Volume 2: Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire-North-of-the-Sands

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Current Display: Brigham 01, Cumberland Forward button Back button
Overview
Present Location
Tower of church, inside
Evidence for Discovery
First recorded by R. N. Bailey in 1957
Church Dedication
St Bridget
Present Condition
Damaged but unworn on surviving face
Description

There are traces of a flat-band moulding. Carving only survives on one face and it is uncertain whether this was originally broad or narrow. Part of a medallion scroll survives and within it part of a leaf or leaf and berry. At the top right is a leaf which may have been attached to a medallion above. It is of the long triangular veined type, and the detail of the central stem and veins is finely conveyed. Below, a pair of similar leaves flanking a single bud on a stiff stalk fill the space between two medallions.

Discussion

This fragment must once have been part of a bold imposing scroll which compares in scale with those from Hexham, no. 3 (Cramp 1984, pls. 174–5), and Lancaster (Ill. 679). At Lancaster and Lowther 1 similar leaves with delicate veins and well marked central stems are found, while at Hexham 3 the medallion dividers are similarly organized, but the strands of the scrolls spring from deeply ridged nodes. The composite of a single bud with paired leaves is a very simple form of this type (see G.I., fig. 12c). It is a widespread feature of Cumbrian scrolls (see Introduction, p. 15), and this tantalizing fragment from Brigham demonstrates the variety and popularity of the motif in this region.

Date
Late eighth century
References
Bailey 1960b, pl. facing 38; Bailey 1974a, I, 20, 22–3, II, 53, pl.; O'Sullivan 1980, 277, 307
Endnotes

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