A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



Rev. A. B. Hemsworth, the rector, preserved the stones from destruction, and 

 caused them to be placed together in the floor of the chancel, where they 

 now lie. The slab, which is of sandstone, measures (now that the two parts 

 are joined) 5 feet 3^ inches long, by I foot 9 inches wide at one end 

 and I foot 3 inches wide at the other. It is 5 inches thick in the centre, 

 sloping away to 4 inches at each side. The ornamental features consist of 

 almost circular crosses (with expanded ends to the arms) at each end of the 

 slab, connected by a flat band 2 inches broad, running along the central axis, 

 having two panels of four-cord plaitwork on each side. The crosses and the 

 connecting band between them are sculptured in relief above the rest of the 

 surface of the slab. The plaitwork in two of the panels has been partly 

 defaced by the initials I.M. of a certain J. Mansfield, over whose grave this 

 half of the slab at one time stood as a headstone. The monument at Rockland 

 has been described and illustrated by J. R. Allen in a paper on ' Recent 

 Discoveries of Pre-Norman Sculptured Stones ' in the 

 Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xli, 269. 



The Pre-Norman cross at Whissonsett was found on 

 24 April, 1900, by the sexton whilst digging a grave in 

 the churchyard, at a depth of about three feet beneath the 

 ground. It is at present in the organ chamber, but the 

 rector, the Rev. Francis Lane (to whom I am indebted 

 for the particulars here given), proposes to fix it more 

 permanently within the chancel at the first convenient 

 opportunity. The cross is 2 feet 5 inches high by i foot 

 6 inches wide across the head and 1 1 inches across the 

 shaft, by 4 inches thick. It is sculptured on all four 

 faces with interlaced work. The arms of the cross on 

 the head have expanded ends and are connected by a 

 circular ring, the round hollows between the arms and the 

 ring being pierced right through the stone. There is a 

 circular raised boss in the centre of the head, and the 

 interlaced work, which fills up the remaining space, ter- 

 minates in a Stafford knot on each arm. The front of 

 the shaft is ornamented with a pattern composed of a 

 double row of Stafford knots, and on the narrow face with 

 a three-cord plait. I am informed by the rector that the designs on the back 

 and opposite narrow face are similar. This cross appears to be Celtic rather 

 than Saxon in style. 



For many years a portion of a pre-Norman cross-shaft was to be seen in 

 the city of Norwich, built into the angle of a house attached to a stable yard 

 at the north-west corner of the junction between Rose Lane and Cathedral 

 Street South. The surface of the stone was, however, so thickly coated with 

 whitewash and paint that the designs sculptured upon it were not sufficiently 

 apparent to attract the attention of rambling antiquaries, and it was not until 

 the house, of which it formed part, was pulled down in 1896, and the stone 

 cleaned, that the true character of the ornament could be discerned. Although 

 the carving was thus obscured until recently, the stone itself must have 

 been noticed by the Ordnance surveyors, for they have cut one of their broad 

 arrow bench-marks upon it. After being removed from the house into 



556 



Cross Slab at Rock- 

 land. 



