The Corpus: Ribchester (Anchor Hill) 1

Volume 9: Cheshire and Lancashire

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Current Display: Ribchester (Anchor Hill) 1, Lancashire

Overview

Object type: Part of cross-head [1]

Measurements: H. 20 cm (8 in); W. 30.5 cm (12 in); D. 10 cm (4 in)

Stone type: Light olive grey (5Y 6/1), poorly sorted, clast-supported, quartz sandstone. The sub-angular to sub-rounded clasts range from fine-grained (0.2 mm) to granular (2.5 mm), but are mostly coarse-grained in the range 0.4 to 1.0 mm. Millstone Grit, Carboniferous

Plate numbers in printed volume: Ills. 635-9

Corpus volume reference: Vol 9 p. 236-7

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Present Location

St Wilfrid's church, Ribchester (SD 650350), in vestry

Evidence for Discovery

The Lancashire Sites and Monuments Record (PRN 158-MLA158) claims that this head, together with Ribchester (Anchor Hill) 2, was found in 1829 during excavations at Anchor Hill, which is south-west of the parish churchyard at SD 648351. Whitaker (1872–6, I, 37) is cited in support of this provenance; he dates the find to January 1829 and describes the discovery as being of 'fragments of a Saxon cross, about a foot and a half high'. It is possible that Whitaker interpreted Ribchester (Anchor Hill) 1 and 2 as being from the same monument. The cross-head here labelled as Ribchester 3 (p. 270) may be identified with Ribchester (Anchor Hill) 1, but the earliest record gives Ribchester (Anchor Hill) 3 a churchyard provenance (Baines 1831–6, III, 383). Neither stone is mentioned in the comprehensive history of the church produced by Smith and Shortt in 1890. See also Ribchester (Anchor Hill) 3.

Church Dedication

Present Condition

Worn on face C

Description

The fragment consists of one complete arm of the transom, together with the centre, of a cross-head of type B9.

A (broad): The decoration is framed by a moulding which follows the moulding outline of the cross but is set in from the edge. At the centre is a bold boss, some 9 cm in radius and raised 3.5 cm high. The boss has marked ribbing. There is no other decoration.

B (narrow): Broken away

C (broad): A channelled line follows the outline of the cross. At the centre is a worn boss, 8 cm in radius and 2 cm high.

D (narrow), E and F (upper and lower): No decoration

Discussion

Though undecorated, this head resembles several in the area in its use of bold bosses (see Colne 1 and 2, and Whalley 3: Ills. 445, 447–50, 675–8).

Date

Uncertain; ninth or tenth century

References

Whitaker 1872–6, I, 37; Scholes 1892, 80; Finch 1954, 4–5, fig. 2 on 23; Edwards, B. 1978a, 70; Edwards, B. 1987b, 46; Edwards, B. 1988b, 24; Panikkar 1994, 16; Reeder 1999, 16, fig. 4a; Noble 2004, 32–3, fig. 36a

Endnotes

[1] The following is a general reference to the Ribchester stones: Bu'lock 1975b, 77.