In the south aisle of the nave before the transept, facing west with faces B and C close to the outer walls

Shaft found embedded in the 'lower story' of the west face of the tower; base found in north-east corner of belfry; fragment of head in a putlog hole also in the belfry (Reed 1935, 286)

St Andrew

Reconstructed from three pieces: shaft (which has a diagonal break), base, and one arm of head

The shaft is edged by two fine roll mouldings, the base by a triple moulding.

A (broad): On the base is a bold acanthus motif with a double clipped base from which emerge paired curling leaves. They frame a central segmented stem from which sprout small trefoils, and above, a pair of short triangular leaves.

The shaft is filled with three large volutes of an inhabited plant-scroll, with leaf-flowers, trefoil berry bunches, and pointed and curling leaves. Each volute is divided by paired small triangular leaves with sunken centres. (i) In the lowest volute a backward-looking quadruped is turning to eat a trefoil berry bunch on a straight stalk which passes across its body. A long curling frond (which could be a tail) emerges from its back. Its feet have distinct toes or claws. (ii) Above, a bird with its foot perching on talks is reaching back to bite the stalk of a plant which passes through its mouth. Its tail is upraised and it has a prominent pointed wing. (iii) The uppermost volute is filled with foliage, with a large curling leaf in the centre and a leaf-flower dangling from a tendril below.

The top of the cross is filled with a miniature pair of stiff acanthus-like leaves, sprouting from a 'clipped' base, and is mounted upside down. Its dowel hole at the top (see face E) would have been used to set it into the shaft.

B (narrow): Part of the pattern is lost from the western edge. On the base is a bold double ring knot with pairs of clips on each side. The shaft is entirely filled with an eight-strand basket plait. The strands are median-incised, about 1 inch (2.5 cm) in width, and the prominent hole points are square.

C (broad): This face is so near to the wall that it is impossible to see, and I am indebted to Steven Plunkett for the evidence of his rubbing (Plunkett 1984, pl. 82; see Ill. 8). At the base is a pair of little trees set in rectangular frames. The foliage at the base is acanthuslike, whilst the 'branches' of the main stems spring up and terminate in little lobes. The shaft is plastered over except for a small area at the top, where there is a pair of ribbon animals with herringbone patterning on their bodies enmeshed in median-incised interlace. One reptilian head is biting at the interlace.

D (narrow): Part of the pattern is lost from the west edge and top of the base. At the base is a double ring knot, identical with that on B, and also pairs of clips on each side. The shaft is filled with triple rows of figure-of-eight knots (pattern F), which neatly diminish in size towards the top, so that at the base each knot is 14 cm high and at the top 11.5 cm.

E (top): Filled-in dowel hole

This is an important piece because, although reconstructed, it is the only example with acanthus type plant-scroll which gives some idea of the shape and overall design of such monuments. The quality and variety of carving has caused Plunkett to identify the 'Colyton School' (Plunkett 1984, I, 202–17; see also introduction p. 51). Within the sculptural repertoire the fragments from Chew Stoke, Somerset (Ills. 200–3) are closest in design, both in the type of ribbon animal with simple herringbone body and in the very distinctive leaves, trefoils and leaf-flowers, which last have been characterised in manuscript art as 'hollow leafy calices', issuing tendrils and foliage (Temple 1976, 29, 36). These appear in the Cuthbert embroideries c. 916 (Ills. 535-8), and are also found in the decoration of early tenth-century manuscripts such as the Durham Ritual (Temple 1976, no. 3, ill. 10), or Bodleian Lib., Junius 27, fol. 135v (ibid., no. 7, ill. 1), as well as together with the trefoils on the border of the presentation page in Corpus Christi College MS 183, fol. 1v (Ills. 529–30). Kendrick (1949, 40) felt that the Colyton scroll was nearer in type to the later 'Aldhelm' manuscript (Lambeth Palace MS 200, fol. 69: Temple 1976, no. 39, ill. 133), but I feel that this sculpture scroll is nearer in the clarity of its detail to the earlier group, although of course there could have been a gap between the acceptance of these elements into manuscript art and sculpture. The development of this form of florid scroll is discussed in the introduction (p.51), and see also Braunton 1 above. Colyton does seem to be a high quality and innovative monument (the little trees on face C are so far unparalleled). The framing 'clips' and the parallel rows of pattern F knots on face D are distinctive features of south-western sculptures which are quite widely distributed (pp. 41–2), and the serpentine animal with simple herringbone patterning provides a link between the monuments with primarily animal and interlaced ornament and those with acanthus. Such a link provides further support for a date early in the tenth century. Despite its worn surfaces, the delicacy and control of all the carving on this monument confirms its importance.

Early tenth century

Reed 1935, 285–9, pl. XXIV, figs. 1, 2, pl. XXV, figs. 3, 4; Phillips 1937a, 224; Phillips 1937b, 293; Waterfield 1937, 177; Mee 1938, 112; Phillips 1938, 324–5, 335; Arkell 1947a, 61–3; Kendrick 1949, 40, pl. XXXIV; Pevsner 1952, 16, 88, pl. 26; Rice 1952, 143; Stone 1955b, 40; Radford 1957b, 132; Jope 1964, 93n, 103, 105; Cramp 1975, 186, 193, fig. 19f; Tweddle 1983, 28; Plunkett 1984, I, 182, 189, 190, 191, 196, 203–10, 212, 218, 221, 222, 236, II, 281–2, 294, 365, pl. 82; Todd 1987, 290, 299–300; Cherry and Pevsner 1989, 38, 280; Cramp 1992, 150, 154, 157, fig. 19f; Gameson 1995, 119; Tweddle et al. 1995, 42

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