The Corpus: Melling 2

Volume 9: Cheshire and Lancashire

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Current Display: Melling 2, Lancashire

Overview

Object type: Part of shaft [1]

Measurements: H. 33 cm (13 in); W. 26 > 24 cm (10.2 > 9.4 in); D. 17.5 cm (17.7 in)

Stone type: Pale red (10R 6/2), moderately sorted, clast-supported, quartz sandstone. The sub-angular to sub-rounded clasts range from medium-grained (0.3 mm) to very coarse-grained (2.0 mm), but are mostly medium- to coarse-grained in the range 0.4 to 0.6 mm. ?Cocklett Scar Sandstone Member, Roeburndale Formation, Millstone Grit, Carboniferous

Plate numbers in printed volume: Ills. 627-30

Corpus volume reference: Vol 9 p. 234-5

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Present Location

In church

Evidence for Discovery

Two conflicting records survive. Taylor (H. 1903, 105) states that it was taken out of the churchyard wall late in the nineteenth century, whilst a 1905 account describes it as having been 'built into the renovated east wall of the chancel 140 years ago; it proved to be a portion of the shaft of the pre-Norman churchyard cross mutilated by the mason on 2 sides' ((—) 1905b, 286).

Church Dedication

St Wilfrid

Present Condition

Face C has been largely cut away; parts of faces A and B have also been damaged.

Description

Where it survives, all sides are bordered by a cable moulding.

A (broad): Within broad arris borders is a six-strand, median-incised plait.

B (narrow): The single panel contains four-strand, median-incised, knotwork of half pattern F; both borders are damaged.

C (broad): Traces survive of a cabled border moulding to the right.

D (narrow): The single panel contains half pattern A knotwork, similar to face B, but less damaged.

Discussion

Such tightly-woven median-incised basket plait is popular on Viking-period monuments in Cumbria, Yorkshire and the Isle of Man (Bailey and Cramp 1988, ills. 339, 589, 591; Coatsworth 2008, ills. 23, 40, 438; Kermode 1907, nos. 61, 62, 89, 97).

Date

Tenth century

References

?Calverley 1895, 122; ?(—) 1898, 405; Taylor, H. 1903, 105, pl. (B) facing 105; Collingwood 1904b, 41–2; (—) 1905b, 286–7; Garstang 1906, 268; Taylor, H. 1906, 397, pl. (B) facing 397; Bu'lock 1970, 292; Edwards, B. 1978a, 68; Kenyon 1991, 99; Edwards, B. 1992, 58; Noble 1999, 36, fig. 51; Salter 2005, 56

Endnotes

[1]. The following are general references to the Melling stones: (–––) 1898, 405; Fellows-Jensen 1985, 404, 405, 407; Blair 2005, 309–10. The following is an unpublished manuscript reference: BL Add. MS 37550 (Romilly Allen collection).