Pre-Norman Stone Crosses in the British Isles

The ancient churches of Ryedale are by any standard a remarkable group, and contain an interesting variety of pre-Norman monuments. Each location has its own collection, and its own story. All Saints' Church at Sinnington presents the appearance of a pretty little country church, with an interior remodelled is tasteful early 20th-century style, with a couple of cross shafts on display inside the church. A closer inspection of the fabric of the building, however, reveals an assemblage of dozens of fragments of pre-Norman crosses and hogback fragments scattered all over the building, inside and out. One could spend hours at this church just trying to identify all the pieces. It seems that several - perhaps the numbers even reach double figures - significant crosses were broken up in order to provide building stone for the twelfth-century workers who raised this building. The Saxon/Viking cemetery they came from must have been a wonder to behold before it was razed.

In the south wall, near one of the windows, two cross fragments are built into the fabric.

The one on the left shows one of the famous serpent carvings known locally as "Ryedale dragons". This same stone is shown from a slightly different angle on my page about Iken in Suffolk, almost 200 miles away. Although there are many "dragon" carvings in Ryedale, the motif may not be not unique to the area.

The broken shaft shown on the right has intricate carved knotwork. It is a great pity that more of the design is lost.

On the inside of the west wall, another cross shaft (left) has been mounted, and again, like the one above, it bears a carved dragon - indeed, these two are almost identical, except for the fact that the one on the west wall seems to have had less time spent on its creation, with the result that it seems plainer and flatter than the piece built into the south wall.

Beneath this mounted shaft, another piece (right) has been built into the west wall. This piece has been carved with an interlace pattern, different from the one above, and the fragment includes the part of the pattern at the end of the panel, where the various strands turn back.


The south wall of the nave has two cross heads embedded in it, as well as various other fragments - in the picture at the left, faint traces of interlace carvings can be seen on the cross-shaft that has been used in the window-frame. Interestingly, the cross-head shown at the right includes a crucifixion scene where Jesus is shown superior to a snake, which represents his victory over sin and the devil.

At the foot of the north-east corner of the nave wall one stone stands out a long way from the rest. This is a hogback, and despite the various encrustations on it, the bear on the end can be made out clearly. The top of the bear's head is nearest the observer in this view, and details of the lines on the bear's snout and its two ears are visible. Similarly, the outline of the bear's shoulder can be seen in high relief on what is now the top surface. This must have been an extremely impressive hogback before it was used as building material.

Inexplicably, the church guide leaflet says the following about it: "Records tell that in the north-east corner is a hog-back (part of an ancient coffin) with a carving of a bear, but there is no trace of this now." (underlining mine) No trace?!? Is this a case of not seeing the wood for the trees, one wonders?


Here (above and below) are just a small selection of the various fragments of pre-Norman crosses that have been used as building material around the outside of the church. Those above are from the North wall, those below (and yes, there are three fragments in the same picture on the left below) are from the West wall. The object on the right below is the very worn remains of a sundial, complete with a hole where the gnomon was originally placed.

Northern Ryedale is an area rich in pre-Norman remains. Some are crosses or cross fragments, others are grave markers, and at several places there are sundials with Old English and Latin inscriptions.
Clicking on the relevant cross(es) above should take you to the appropriate page at this website
(assuming that the page has been prepared).

Viking ("Anglo-Norse") sites
Gosforth	Aspatria, Burnsall, Dearham, Dyserth, Gosforth, Halton, Hovingham, Lastingham, Maen Achwyfan, Muncaster, Oswaldkirk, Penmon, Penrith, Staveley (North Yorkshire), Sinnington, Stonegrave, Urswick, Waberthwaite

Nunnington: The cross fragments were not on display when I last visited the church. I do not know their present whereabouts.

Hogbacks (see also Grave-lids)
Oswaldkirk	Aspatria, Brompton, Burnsall, Dewsbury, Gosforth, Helmsley, Oswaldkirk, Penrith, Sinnington, Stonegrave
In Viking areas, the grave-lids were often made in a distinctive shape called a hogback, because of their generally curved shape, resembling the back of a huge pig. If truth be told, it isn't really a very descriptive name, since many hogbacks do not follow that pattern at all. Some have flat tops, some have curved tops. Some are shaped to resemble the roofs of meeting halls, whilst others have the figures of bears carved at either end. This is, indeed, a very varied group of monuments.

Sundials

Old Byland
(N.B. The sundial is built into the wall upside down,
so this picture is inverted to show it the right way up!)

Bewcastle, Escomb, Great Edstone, Kirkdale, Old Byland, Sinnington

Sundials come in several flavours. There are those which have a horizontal surface, and usually stand on top of a plinth of some sort. Others have a vertical surface and are generally built into the external walls of buildings. Some sundials are interesting because they bear inscriptions that illuminate their history, though many are mute in this respect.

Unusually, the cross-shaft at Bewcastle also has a sundial carved on one face. Scandalously, one might think, one of the great Viking crosses at Gosforth was cut down in the eighteenth century to provide a plinth for a modern sundial - such modern sundials do not feature in this list!

* The Ordnance Survey National Grid Reference (and corresponding Latitude/Longitude) given at the top of the pages describing individual sites usually refer to the location of the closest or most prominent entrance to the site where the monument is to be found - e.g. a gate into a churchyard. For monuments located in open country, or at a significant distance from the site entrance as just defined, the co-ordinates usually refer to the exact location of the monument.
Please allow for a small error in the co-ordinates of up to a couple of dozen metres.

Thanks to the people at streetmap.co.uk, if you click on the Grid References in the magenta boxes on the site pages,
you'll see an extract from the relevant Ordnance Survey 1:50000 Landranger map!

As the official mapping agency of the United Kingdom Government, the Ordnance Survey produces the definitive maps of the country. They contain a wealth of information.
For more details, visit www,ordnancesurvey.co.uk/leisure

Click here if you need an explanation of the terminology on these pages

Click here if you would like to see a bibliography

Click here if you would like to download the freeware "Mordred" font (in True-type for Windows)
so that the headings used on these pages will then look like the following:

Click to go to Pre-Norman crosses in:	England	the island of Ireland	the Isle of Man	Scotland	Wales	Read about the Saints
Click to go to Mediaeval crosses in:	England	the island of Ireland	the Isle of Man	Scotland	Wales

Locality maps at this web-site have been developed using Microsoft AutoRoute Express 2000 (and later editions).

This page is a part of Chris Tolley's web-site. Latest update: Wednesday, February 19, 2003 12:28
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The late afternoon sun casts a shadow of the tree onto the west end of All Saints' Church in the exterior view (left). The interior view towards the chancel (right) shows an elegantly plain interior mercifully unspoilt by memorial plaques, with a fine-looking pipe organ . (Oct 2002)

Anglo-Danish sites
Middleton	East Marton, Hickling, Iken, Middleton (North Yorkshire), Nunnington*, Oswaldkirk, Sinnington, Stonegrave, Staveley (North Yorkshire)