THE CHURCH OF ST. HELEN S, DARLEY DALE. - 2Q 



to the thirteenth century. The cross with the bugle was here 

 before the restoration, and one small specimen and a fragment 

 having a quaint quadruped in high relief were found when 

 digging graves in the churchyard about 1875. With these 

 exceptions they were all brought to light in 1854. 



In addition to those in the porch, there are portions of at 

 least six more of these early sepulchral stones built into the 

 masonry of the church in different parts of the exterior. On 

 one above the string-course of the north-east buttress of the 

 chancel can be noticed a chalice, the symbol of the interment 

 of a priest. In the slabs, too, that form the lintels of the bell- 

 chamber windows of the tower are three more specimens, one of 

 them being of that simple early description noted in the porch, 

 and another can be seen in the steps of the winding stairway. 



At the west end of the tower, to the left-hand of the old 

 entrance, is a square stone on which are quaintly carved two non- 

 descript animals, described by Mr. Suckling in a style almost as 

 quaint as the sculptures, as a wolf attacked by a " pelican, or 

 some such bird of prey." This carving is probably of Norman 

 date, and may have formed part of the tympanum over the 

 Norman doorway. It was probably thought sufficiently remark- 

 able to be preserved and built in here when the tower was 

 re-constructed in the Perpendicular era. When the paving 

 stones round the ancient yew trees were recently removed, the 

 lower side of one of them was found to be carved after the 

 same fashion, and showed the hind quarters and intricately- 

 folded tail of another nondescript animal. This stone, which 

 possibly formed part of the same sculpture as that by the west 

 doorway, is now preserved in the porch. 



At the dispersion of the Lomberdale Museum, the Weston 

 Museum, Sheffield, secured most of the Derbyshire relics, 

 including the Darley pre-Norman cross fragment. A face and an 

 edge of this stone are depicted on Plate xv. of Vol. viii. of the 

 Derbyshire Archaeological Society's Journal, as part of the illus- 

 trations of the Bishop of Bristol's admirable article on " The 

 Pre-Norman Sculptural Stones of Derbyshire." He there says : 



