176 ON THE PRE-NORMAN SCULPTURED STONES OF DERBYSHIRE. 



ence, but there are some figures of somewhat like character at 

 Stanwick, in the north of Yorkshire. 



I come next to a stone which, as far as I know, has not been 

 described — a shaft in the Churchyard of Blackwell, near Alfreton 

 (Plate XIV.) I wish to acknowledge with much gratitude the care 

 and trouble taken by Mr. Marriott, the rector, to provide for me 

 and for the meeting these curious and interesting rubbings. It is 

 remarkable that the pattern, on one side of the cross (Fig. 4) is 

 about as simple as can possibly be, and yet was, as far as I knew, 

 unique in England. But, as so frequently happens, I very 

 soon after found a like pattern on a fragment at Leek (Staffs.), 

 which is now being restored by the kind permission of the Vicar 

 and Churchwardens, and the energy of my highly esteemed 

 friend, Mr. T. Wardle. The same pattern occurs on stones 

 at Clonmacnois and St. Andrews, and on a bronze brooch 

 found in Sweden. The pattern on the south side of the cross 

 (Fig. 1) very closely resembles a figure-of-eight pattern, which I 

 thought I only knew of on one stone till I found it on a Derbyshire 

 stone two days before the meeting (Spondon, Plate XIV.). 



The cross at Hope, which is one of remarkable beauty and 

 interest, I could not show at the meeting, for in consequence 

 of some difficulty with some Archaeological Society— not the 

 Institute — those who have the custody of the cross do not feel 

 able to give information with regard to it, and as Hope is a very 

 inaccessible place, I had not found time to go to it. By the kind- 

 ness of my friend Mr. H. Arnold-Bemrose, of Derby, I am now in 

 possession of excellent rubbings of the whole of this valuable shaft. 

 I show on Plate XV. the lower part of the face not shown by Dr. 

 Cox or in the other engravings of the cross. This face, like the 

 face usually shown, has two figures side by side grasping a staff 

 held between them, each, I think, under an arcade. Pairs of 

 figures thus represented occur at East Gilling and at Kirkby 

 Wharfe ; in the latter case the staff breaks out at the head into a 

 cross of Maltese character, the lower edges of the keys forming a 

 pretty arcade over the heads of the two figures. The pattern 

 which I show has a special interest, for it is exactly the same a s 



