ON THE PRE-NORMAN SCULPTURED STONES OF DERBYSHIRE. I 77 



that on one of the Ham stones (Staffs.), and anything which points 

 to resemblances in a kingdom of the Heptarchy rather than in a 

 county, is of great value I am preparing a complete account of 

 the Ham stones, with full autotype and photo-lithograph illustra- 

 tions, at the expense of Mr. Granville, the Vicar of Ham. There 

 is not, as far as I know, any photograph of the Hope Cross, but 

 it is drawn in the Anastatic Society's publications, and one side 

 is well shown by Dr. Cox (Vol. ii., plate xii.) 



At Aston, near Derby, is a very interesting portion of a cross of 

 a character much more resembling some of the crosses in the north 

 than anything else which I have seen in Derbyshire. It has a 

 lacertine ornament on the upper part, which very closely resembles 

 a panel of the magnificent shaft at Abercorn, on the Forth, formerly 

 in Anglian territory. Below this is a system of three concentric 

 circles with double diameters interlacing, as on the face of the 

 Hope cross; the pattern I show from Hope is a development of 

 this. The stone at Aston cannot be rubbed well, because a large 

 rain-pipe comes down the middle of it ; it is well drawn in Dr. 

 Cox's book (Vol. iv., plate ii.) by Mr Bailey, of Derby, to whom 

 Dr. Cox's readers are so greatly indebted. I am thankful to say 

 that Mr. Holden, the rector, who took a most kind interest in my 

 proceedings, contemplates having the stone removed and put in a 

 safe place, in which case I quite expect that on one or other of 

 the three remaining sides we shall find something of unusual 

 interest 



At Darley Dale there was an interesting fragment. Mr. Bate- 

 man took it, and it is now in the Weston Museum. I show a face 

 and edge of it (Plate XV). It is specially interesting, because it 

 has a system of circular rings with interlacing bands, of which 

 there are very few and partial examples out of Wigton and 

 Galloway, except on a remarkable stone at Stapleford, just across 

 the boundary of Derbyshire. I found at Sheffield, used as a stone 

 for propping this Darley Dale stone, a stone which I had imagined 

 was entirely lost. Professor G. Stephens published in the second 

 volume of his magnificent work on " Runic Monuments " an 

 engraving (p. 373) representing a stone found at Bakewell. The 

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