The Corpus: Bolton le Moors 3

Volume 9: Cheshire and Lancashire

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Current Display: Bolton le Moors 3, Lancashire

Overview

Object type: Fragmentary cross-head [1]

Measurements: H. 44 cm (17.5 in); W. 38 cm (15 in); D. 14 cm (5.5 in); of ring 5 cm (2 in)

Stone type: Yellowish grey (5Y 7/2), poorly sorted, clast-supported, quartz sandstone. The sub-angular to sub-rounded clasts range from medium-grained (0.3 mm) to granular (2.5 mm), but are mostly medium- to coarse-grained in the range 0.4 to 0.8 mm; scattered flakes of white mica. Bedded at a slight angle to the front face. Millstone Grit, Carboniferous

Plate numbers in printed volume: Ills. 413-4, 417-8

Corpus volume reference: Vol 9 p. 166

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Present Location

In display area in south aisle of church

Evidence for Discovery

See Bolton le Moors 1 above.

Church Dedication

St Peter

Present Condition

The lower and left-hand arm are lost; the reverse is badly abraded. Taylor (H. 1906, 475) gives a width measurement of 23 in (58.5 cm) which indicates that more once survived.

Description

Ring-head of type E8 with expanded terminals

A (broad): Traces remain of a border to both surviving arms; this is defined by an incised line. The only other decoration is a large (18 cm radius) central boss.

B and D (narrow): No decoration

C broad): As face A but with the central boss (16 cm radius) much abraded.

Discussion

The presence of a ring indicates that the carving belonged to the Viking period (Bailey 1980, 70–1). As exemplified by Bolton le Moors 1 above, 'penannular', or 'fan-shaped', heads are popular in free-armed form in the southern part of the western Pennines (see Chapter V, p. 33). In combination with a ring they recur further south at Alderley Edge 1, Disley Lyme Hall 1 and 2, and Monyash in Derbyshire (Ills. 9–12, 128–32, 137–8, 139–41, 148–54; Myers and Barnatt 1984). Heads with a large central boss are very common in the area (see Aughton 1, p. 163).

Date

Tenth or eleventh century

References

Browne 1887a, 11; Scholes 1892, 82, figs. 3–4; Glynne 1893, 105; Taylor, H. 1904, 145; Taylor, H. 1906, 475; Edwards, B. 1978a, 56; Edwards, B. 1983, 9; Noble 2005, 13, fig. 5b

Endnotes

[1] The following are general references to the Bolton le Moors stones: Langton 1885, 34; Allen 1894, 4, 9, 15, 17, 20. The following are unpublished manuscript references: BL Add. MS 37550, items 580 (showing no. 1), and 583–4 (other fragments 'discovered when the parish church of Bolton was taken down a few years since, from a sketch by John Owen of Kennedy Grove, Stockport who watched the demolition of the church').