Volume 13: Derbyshire and Staffordshire

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Current Display: Bakewell 13, Derbyshire Forward button Back button
Overview
Present Location
Built into interior east wall of south porch
Evidence for Discovery
See Bakewell 2.
Church Dedication
All Saints
Present Condition
Although only a small fragment, the decoration on the visible faces is clear and in reasonably good condition, although incomplete.
Description

A (broad): This face is decorated with a simple, broad, two-strand interlace, although only one register survives with a crossing of diagonal strands at the top. On each side are two thin vertical mouldings with an additional cable edge moulding on the left. On the right is the edge of the pattern on B. There may have been a berry motif in each of the corners formed by the loops of the interlace, but these are quite worn and difficult to discern. Additionally, there may have been a central motif within the loop of the interlace but, again, wear makes this uncertain.

B (narrow): Decorated with an interlace, perhaps better described as a ring chain, but only one register survives. It has triple strands with the interlace arranged as a series of rings intertwined with each other. There is no edge moulding to either side of the face, the pattern wrapping itself around the corners.

C (broad): Obscured, being built into a display next to the porch wall. However, some form of carving can be detected at the back.

D (narrow): This face is decorated with a simple, narrow, two-strand interlace or plait. On each side are thin vertical strands or moulding framed by cable edge mouldings.

Discussion

This is a small fragment of a cross-shaft and is unusual in this region, with the design on B being a Borre-style ring chain of Scandinavian origin. Perhaps the best example of this pattern–in a form almost identical to that on Bakewell 13–exists on Gosforth 1, Cumberland, which has been dated to the first half of the tenth century (Bailey and Cramp 1988, 103).

The use of a triple-strand interlace on B is also unusual for this region. It did, however, feature on Bakewell 36, now missing (Sidebottom 1994, 223), carved in a type of stone apparently similar to Bakewell 13 but this, of course, can no longer be verified.

The other visible faces are decorated with simple interlace patterns which are common in the region but are, however, concentrated in the Peak District, being absent from the Trent and lower Dove valleys. Other examples are found at Ilam (2 and 4), Alstonefield (1) and Leek (6), all in Staffordshire.

Date
First half of the tenth century
References
Browne 1886, 180, pl. XV.10; Routh 1937a, 9–10, pl. IV a; Routh 1937b, 10–11, pl. IV a; Plunkett 1984, 290, 358, pl. 53; Sidebottom 1994, 148, 221 (Bakewell 8)
P.S.
Endnotes
[1] The following are general references to the Bakewell sculptures (other than Bakewell 1): (—) 1845b, 156; Plumptre 1847, 38, 39, 46; (—) 1852, 324; (—) 1855, 67; Hicklin and Wallis 1869, 60; Cox 1877a, 32, 36–7; Cox 1878, 37–8; (—) 1879b, 34; (—) 1885b, 502–3; Allen and Browne 1885, 355; Cox 1887, 37–8; Lynam 1895b, 157; (—) 1900, 89; Cox 1903a; Le Blanc Smith 1904a, 195; Firth 1905, 264; Arnold-Bemrose 1910, 107; (—) 1914a, 401–2; (—) 1914b, 36; Browne 1915, 219; Collingwood 1927, 136; Moncrieff 1927, 86; Tudor 1929, 91; Brown 1937, 94–5; Routh 1937a, 7–8; Routh 1937b, 8–9; Fisher 1959, 72; Thompson 1961, 218; Radford 1961a, 210; Butler 1964, 112; Taylor and Taylor 1965, I, 36; Cramp 1977, 192, 218–19; Pevsner and Williamson 1978, 71; Cramp 1985, 311; Craven and Stanley 1986, 27; Bailey 1990, 2; Jones 1993, 68; Leonard 1993, 48; Sidebottom 1994, 151; Bailey 1996, 11; Barnatt and Smith 1997, 57; Sidebottom 1999, 218; Elliott 2001–2; Sharpe 2002, 61; Hopkinson et al. 2004, 15; Blair 2005, 315, 342, 469–70; Bergius 2012, 189; Stocker and Everson 2015, 16; Ryder 2016, 13, 14, 16, 17

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