The Corpus: Lancaster (Priory) 08

Volume 9: Cheshire and Lancashire

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Current Display: Lancaster (Priory) 08, Lancashire

Overview

Object type: Part of shaft [1] [2]

Measurements: H. 33 cm (13 in); W. 29 > 28 cm (11.5 > 11 in); D. 24 > 20 cm (9.5 > 8 in)

Stone type: Moderate yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) poorly sorted, clast-supported, quartz sandstone. The sub-angular to sub-rounded clasts range from 0.2 to 1.5 mm, but are mostly medium-grained in the range 0.3 to 0.4 mm. Millstone Grit, Carboniferous

Plate numbers in printed volume: Ills. 596-9

Corpus volume reference: Vol 9 p. 227-8

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Present Location

As Lancaster (Priory) 3

Evidence for Discovery

First recorded in 1903 when recovered from outer north wall of the Priory (Collingwood 1903b, 261). See also Lancaster (Priory) 2.

Church Dedication

St Mary

Present Condition

Only one decorated face survives, the others having been cut away.

Description

The surviving face carries traces of a roll-moulding border to the left. One complete spiral of a single-stemmed scroll survives with traces of the adjacent scroll-spirals above and below. At the centre of the spiral is a large heart-shaped leaf whilst the spiral produces a spiralling offshoot in the lower right corner. At the point where the stem and offshoot part there is a scooped pellet on the end of a stiff stalk and there are other loose pellets set around the composition.

Discussion

The tightly-wound scroll is typical of material from the Lune valley, and other details of this scroll are familiar in the area: (a) the scooped pellet (see e.g. Halton St Wilfrid 6, Heysham 1, Lancaster St Mary 3, Lancaster Vicarage Field 1, and Heversham); (b) loose pellets (Gressingham 1 etc.); (c) curling offshoots (Lowther, Heversham). Single-stem spiral scrolls terminating in a large central leaf, however, are not known elsewhere among Lune valley carvings, but do occur at Ilkley in Yorkshire and Wycliffe on the Tees (Coatsworth 2008, ill. 358; Lang 2001, ill. 1110).

Date

Ninth century

References

Collingwood 1903b, 261; Taylor, H. 1903, 54, figs. IX, 9 (a); Garstang 1906, 266; Taylor, H. 1906, 346, figs. IX, 9 (a); Edwards, B. 1978a, 66; Edwards, B. 1988a, 205; Noble 1999, 26, fig. 37c; White, A. 2003a, 8

Endnotes

[1]Though all the Lancaster sculptures may have originated at the priory church site, the carvings are here divided into three groups which reflect their find spot. See also Capernwray Hall 1 (p. 169).

[2] The following are general references to the Lancaster stones: Taylor, H. 1898, 42; Farrer and Brownbill 1914, 3, 22; Fellows-Jensen 1985, 273, 402, 405; Higham, N. 2004a, 27, 167, 206; Blair 2005, 216, 309; Salter 2005, 49.

The following are unpublished manuscript references: BL Add. MS 37550, items 666–98, 734 (Romilly Allen collection).