Old Crosses and Lychgates

by Aymer Vallance

South of the church, in the churchyard at Bewcastle, Cumberland, stands an obelisk or shaft of an early cross (Figs. [3], [25], and [26]), strikingly like the famous cross at Ruthwell, in Dumfriesshire. The head of the latter is fairly complete, but in the case of the Bewcastle cross "the head was broken off long ago," wrote Bishop G. F. Browne. "About the year 1600, it was sent ... to Lord Arundel, and, beyond a description in Camden, with an attempt at a representation of the Runic inscription it bore, nothing has been heard of it since." The height of the surviving part is 14 ft. 6 in. It is incised with Anglian runes, which, however, are so much worn, and have been so variously rendered, that no reliance can be placed on their alleged authority. Scholars also differ widely as to the date of the cross, some placing it as early as 665, and others even as late as 1150. The west face comprises three standing human figures, in three tiers, the lowest depicting a man with a hawk, while the middle one, a nimbed figure, has been identified as Christ setting His feet upon the heads of monsters. On the east face is one long uninterrupted vine scroll, with birds and beasts in the volutes. The north and south faces are subdivided into panels containing chequers, interlaced knots, and scrollwork. In one of the scrolls on the south face is the oldest detached dial in existence, as distinct from dials on the walls of buildings. It presents a combination of the old 24-system and the octaval system; but the gnomon is missing.

In the churchyard of Eyam, Derbyshire, is a peculiarly handsome cross, of Anglo-Saxon workmanship, of about the year 700 (Figs. [27] and [28]). The cross now measures 9 ft. 4 in. high; but the head is detached and obviously incomplete, if indeed it belongs to the shaft at all. Assuming, however, that it does belong, the existing lines and proportions would make the cross in its original state attain a total height of some 11 ft. 6 in. The width across the arms is 3 ft. 3 in. Both faces of the cross-top are sculptured with four angels each, that one at the intersection being encircled with a ring. All that part of the head below the central medallion is missing. The obverse of the shaft has two panels of figure-subjects above a very rich and elaborate interlaced knot-ornament. The edges have an interlaced pattern derived from a six-cord plait. The reverse of the shaft is occupied with the volutes of a "vine scroll."

In the churchyard of Bakewell, Derbyshire, stands the relic of a monolith with short-limbed cross-head (Fig. [39]). It dates from about 800 to 900; and, exclusive of the boulder which forms the base, stands 7 ft. 10 in. high, by about 2 ft. wide over all at the widest part. One portion is sculptured with four compartments of figure-subjects, presumably scriptural, the uppermost one being apparently a crucifixion, though the stone is too much curtailed, and the ornament too broken, for certainty on the point. The other face and the sides are occupied with so-called vine scroll, an adaptation of debased classical Roman work.

32. IRTON, CUMBERLAND

CROSS IN THE CHURCHYARD

The two mutilated crosses standing side by side in the market square at Sandbach, Cheshire (Figs. 29, 30, and 31), have had an eventful history. Dating from the ninth century, it is on record that they were still standing in 1585; but, since they are not mentioned by Webb in 1621, the assumption is that they had been broken up in the interval. Anyhow, the different parts became dispersed. Some were taken, by Sir John Crewe, to Utkinton Hall, where they remained until his death in 1711. They were subsequently removed to Tarporley rectory. Thence, after Cole, the antiquary, had seen and made drawings of them in 1757, they were taken to Oulton Park, where they were seen and drawn by S. Lysons. Other portions, however, of these crosses never left Sandbach, some of the lower parts being built into a wall by the town well, while the summit was found to have been buried in a garden. Lastly, through the zealous instrumentality of Dr George Ormerod, the various fragments were collected, and re-erected at Sandbach in September 1816. "The two crosses stand on a substructure of two steps, with two sockets, in which the crosses are fixed. At the angle of each stage of the platform are stone posts, on which figures have been rudely carved." The head of either cross had been broken off, so that their proper height has been reduced. "The crosses are now of unequal height.... The taller one is 16 ft. 8 in. high; the shorter one, 11 ft. 11 in." high. Both crosses are of rectangular section, and tapering. It is not easy to convey in words an adequate idea of the extraordinary richness and variety of their sculptured ornament, which includes patterns derived from three-cord, four-cord, and eight-cord plaits, and figure of eight knots, as well as "much the finest series of figure subjects ... probably in all England." On the larger cross the Crucifixion amid the Evangelistic symbols, and beneath it the Nativity, with the ox and ass adoring, are clearly discernible; but the identification of other subjects is in many cases only conjectural. "The smaller cross bears a variety of human figures placed within ... lozenges." The stone of the crosses is of lower Silurian formation, practically indestructible by the natural action of the weather, a circumstance which accounts for the remarkable preservation of those parts which the wanton hand of man has spared.

The monolith cross in the churchyard at Irton, Cumberland (Fig. [32]), stands 9 ft. 8 in. high, and, with the exception of the cross-head, the surface of which is much worn, is a singularly perfect specimen. Its edges are ornamented with quasi-classic vine scrolls. The obverse and reverse are covered with interlaced ornaments and key patterns. The uppermost panel on one face is a diaper formed by a repetition of small Greek crosses, set diagonally. The date of this cross is approximately 950.

The tall sandstone cross, now in the churchyard of Gosforth, in Cumberland (Fig. [33]), is classed by the late Mr J. Romilly Allen as belonging to a well-known type, Mercian in origin, in which the shaft is cylindrical below and rectangular in the upper part. It may be dated from about 1000 to 1066. A second cross, which is recorded to have stood at a distance of 7 ft. from the first named, disappeared, probably in the year 1789. In the extant cross the four flat faces of the upper part of the shaft gradually die off into the round surface of the lower part, giving a semicircular line of intersection, which is emphasised by a roll moulding, forming a continuation of the mouldings on the four square angles. The four flat surfaces exhibit a great variety of human and animal forms, with zoomorphic ornament and abstract plaits. Some of the subjects have been interpreted as illustrating the stories of Heimdal and Loke, from Norse mythology, though the whole is actually surmounted by a Christian four-holed cross for head. The round part of the shaft in crosses of this type is not, as a rule, ornamented. The Gosforth cross, therefore, is in this respect exceptional. Its height is 14 ft. 6 in.