The Corpus: Kirby Hill 11

Volume 6: Northern Yorkshire

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Current Display: Kirby Hill 11, Yorkshire North Riding

Overview

Object type: Cross-base [1]

Measurements: L. 57.2 cm (22.5 in) W. 46 cm (18 in) D. Built in. Socket: L. 37 cm (14.5 in) W. 19 cm (7.5 in) D. 14.4 cm (5.7 in)

Stone type: Coarse-grained feldspathic Millstone Grit (later pierced with sandstone insert, top left-hand margin). The rock has a basic brownish yellow colour (10YR 6/6), but this cross-base has been intensively burnt (particularly on the top rim of the mortise hole) to a red colour (10YR 4/6). Typical Millstone Grit (Namurian, Upper Carboniferous) from the Northern Pennines. This may be recycled ashlar from the Aldborough Roman settlement. This stone probably came originally from the Upper Plompton Grit, River Nidd Gorge, near Knaresborough.

Plate numbers in printed volume: Ill. 368

Corpus volume reference: Vol 6 p. 134

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Present Location

Built into the interior north wall of the sanctuary, low down, with the socket facing outwards

Evidence for Discovery

Noted by Marion Weston in the Victoria County History (Page, W. 1914)

Church Dedication

All Saints

Present Condition

Good; the top left section is probably a repair. The inside of the socket has been lime-washed.

Description

A (top) : Plain, with rounded corners and rectangular mortise hole.

Discussion

There is no diagnostic ornament. The dimensions are in inch units.

Date

Possibly pre-Conquest

References

Page, W. 1914, 370

Endnotes

[1] The following are general references to the Kirby Hill stones: Lunn [1867], 13; Allen and Browne 1885, 353; Allen 1890, 293; Bulmer 1890, 734; Hodges 1894, 195, 201; Morris, J. 1904, 212, 420; Thompson 1908, 113; Stapleton 1923, 7, 10, 53; Morris, J. 1931, 212, 417; Pontefract and Hartley [1936], 126; Mee 1941, 125; Taylor and Taylor 1965, I, 355; Pevsner 1966, 210; Morris, R. 1989, 161; Muir 1997, 96–7.