Chapter IX: Stone Crosses

The Parish Church of St. Peter, Bolton, was rebuilt entirely by Mr. Peter Ormrod, whose surname is Danish, and was consecrated on St. Peter's Day, 1871. Among the pre-Norman stones discovered during the re-building were the broken head of a supposed Irish cross, of circular type, probably of the tenth century; part of the shaft of a cross bearing a representation of Adam and Eve, with the apple between their lips, and an upturned hand; and a stone with carving of a nondescript monster. At this period the Danes were the rulers of Ireland and the Isle of Man, whose Bishops were men bearing Danish names, and therefore we may assume that this memorial was erected under their influence and direction.

Some crosses, says Fosbrooke, in his Dictionary of Antiquities, owe their origin to the early Christians marking the Druid stones with crosses, in order to change the worship without breaking the prejudice. Some of the crosses presumed to be Runic rather belong to the civilised Britons, were erected by many of the Christian kings before a battle or a great enterprise, with prayers and supplication for the assistance of Almighty God. At a later period, not probably earlier than the tenth century, a Scandinavian influence shows itself, and to a very appreciable extent modifies the ornamentation of these monuments. It went even further, and produced a representation of subjects, which, however strange it may appear, are only explained by a reference to the mythology of that part of Europe. The grave covers, to which, on account of their shape, the name of hog-backed stones has been applied, appear to have occurred very rarely beyond the counties of Cumberland, Durham, York, and Lancaster, though some not quite of the ordinary type have been found in Scotland, as, for instance, at Govan, on the Clyde, near Glasgow. They developed ultimately, through a transitional form, into the coped stone with a representation of a covering of tiles, the roof of man's last home, and were a common grave cover of the twelfth century.

STONE CROSSES.

In pre-Reformation times there was scarcely a village or hamlet in England which had not its cross; many parishes, indeed, had more than one. We know that at Liverpool there were the High Cross, the White Cross, and St. Patrick's Cross. While many of these crosses are of undoubted Saxon origin, others bear distinct traces of Scandinavian mythology.

NORTH LANCASHIRE RELICS.

In the churchyard of Halton, near Lancaster, is the shaft of an ancient cross. In 1635 the upper part was removed by the rector, in order that the portion remaining might be converted into a sundial. On the east side are two panels, one showing two human figures, in a sitting posture, engaged in washing the feet of a seated figure; the other showing two figures on either side of a tall cross. This is the Christian side of a cross erected at a time of transition. On the west side is a smith at work with a pair of bellows. He is forging a large pair of pincers, as he sits on a chair. Below the chair is the bust of a man, or a coat of mail. Above him is a sword of heavy type, also a second hammer, a second pair of pincers, and a human body, with a "figure of eight" knot, intertwined in a circle, in place of a head, and an object at his feet representing the head. The half-panel above has reference to some event in the Sagas.

At Heysham, near Lancaster, also in the churchyard, is an example of a hog-backed stone, a solid mass six feet long and two feet thick, laid over some ancient grave. On the stone is a stag, with broad horns, and as it is not a reindeer it is said to be a rude representation of an elk. The scene on this side of the stone depicts an animal hunt. The termination at each end is a rude quadruped on its hind quarters. A fragment of a beautifully-sculptured cross is still remaining, evidently part of a cross which fitted into the socket of the stone.

In the churchyard of St. Mary's, Lancaster, was a fine cross with a Runic inscription, meaning "Pray for Cynebald, son of Cuthbert." This cross has been removed to the British Museum.

OTHER ANCIENT REMAINS.

At Whalley are three fine specimens of reputed Saxon crosses. Tradition says they commemorate the preaching of Paulinus in 625. Although they have no remaining inscriptions, their obelisk form and ornaments of fretwork were used in common by the Norwegians, Saxons, and Danes.

In Winwick Churchyard is a great fragment of a crosshead, consisting of the boss and two arms. On the arms are a man with two buckets and a man being held head downwards by two ferocious-looking men, who have a saw beneath them, and are either sawing him asunder or are preparing to saw off his arms. This evidently relates to Oswald, for he was dismembered by order of Pemba, and the buckets might refer to the miracle-working well which sprang up where his body fell.

At Upton, Birkenhead, is a sculptured stone bearing a Runic inscription. Dr. Browne takes the inscription to mean: "The people raised a memorial: Pray for Aethelmund."

At West Kirby is a nearly complete example of a hog-backed stone. The lower part is covered on both sides by rough interlacing bands, and the middle and upper part with scales, the top being ornamented with a row of oblong rings on each side, with a band running through each row of rings. The work at the top, which looks like a row of buckles, is very unusual. The stone, which is of harder material than any stone in the neighbourhood, must have been brought from a distance, and in the memorial of some important person, probably Thurstan, as we find the name Thurstaston in the locality. There is also at West Kirby a flat slab on the face of which a cross is sculptured. This is very unusual in England, though not rare in Scotland and Ireland.

At Hilbree, the island off West Kirby, there is a cross of like character.

Principal Rhys says that in the eleventh and twelfth centuries the Norsemen were in the habit of largely recruiting their fleet in Shetland and the Orkneys, not merely with thrales, but with men of a higher position. They infused thus a certain amount of Pictish blood into the island. The "Shetland bind"--Oghams distributed over the island, in such places as Braddan, Turby, Michael, Onchan, and Bride. The Norwegian language, says Mr. C. Roeder, was spoken practically from 890-1270; it was introduced by the Shetland and Orkney men, and from Norway, with which connection was kept, as shown by the grammatical structure of the Runic stones in the island, which falls between 1170 and 1230. It was the only language of the rulers, and used at "Thing" and Hall, resembling in this old Norman barons and their counts in King William the Conqueror's time.

The spirit of the Norsemen lives in the legal constitution of the Government, an inheritance that produced a free Parliament, and particularly in its place-names. The sea fringe, with its hundreds of Norse rocks, creeks, and forelands, and caves, have left imperishable evidence of the mighty old seafarers, the track they took, and the commingling and fusion they underwent in blood and speech, and their voyages from the Shetlands and Western Isles.

SOME HUMAN REMAINS.

Claughton-on-Brock, near Preston, is named Clactune in Domesday Book. The Danes have also left relics of their presence and influence as they have done all over the Fylde district. The late Monsignor Gradwell, a great student of local nomenclature and a Lancashire historian of considerable repute, wrote: "In Claughton the Roman road crosses the Fleet, a small brook in the Sixacre. About seventy years ago a barrow was found on the west of the New Lane, about half a mile south of the street. In it were found an earthenware urn containing the burnt remains of a human body, with some delicately wrought silver brooches, some beads and arms, a dagger and a sword. The brooch of fretwork was precisely similar to many ancient Danish brooches still preserved in the Copenhagen Museum, and this proves that the Claughton deposit was also Danish. That the Danes were strong in Claughton and in the neighbourhood is proved by the many Danish names. Thus, we have Dandy Birk, or Danes Hill; Stirzacre, and Barnacre, respectively Stirs land and Biorn's land. The Danish relics were carefully deposited at Claughton Hall by the finder, Mr. Thomas Fitzherbert Brockholes."

THE HALTON CROSS.

Now what is to be said about the subjects carved on these crosses and about the date of the work? One of the subjects is most remarkable, and gives a special interest to this cross; for here on the west face and north we have the story of Sigurd Fafnir's bane; here is his sword and the forging of it, his horse Grani, which bore away the treasure; the roasting of the dragon's heart; the listening to the voice of the birds, and the killing of Regin the smith.

The story so far as it relates to our subject is this: We all know that the love of money is the root of all evil. Now there were two brothers, Fafnir and Regin. Fafnir held all the wealth, and became a huge monster dragon, keeping watch over his underground treasure-house. Regin, his brother, had all skill in smith's work, but no courage. He it was who forged the sword wherewith the hero Sigurd went forth to kill the dragon and take the treasure. This he did with the help of his wonderful horse Grani, who, when the heavy boxes of treasure were placed on his back, would not move until his master had mounted, but then went off merrily enough. This story, Anglicised and Christianised, is the story of our English patron saint St. George, the horse rider and the dragon slayer. Here is the story written in stone.

We know the ancient belief that the strength of every enemy slain passes into the body of the conqueror.

ILLUSTRATION OF HOG-BACK STONE.

The stone is perhaps more than a thousand years old, and has been a good deal knocked about. It was once the tomb of a great Christian Briton or Englishman, before the Norman Conquest; and you may still see four other "hog-backed Saxon" uncarved tombstones in Lowther Churchyard, marking the graves of the noble of that day. When a stone church was built, our sculptured shrine was built into the walls of the church, and some of the mortar still sticks to the red sandstone. When this old church was pulled down to give place to a new one this same stone, covered with lime and unsightly, was left lying about. You will see something twisted and coiled along the bottom of each drawing beneath the figures, and you will see some strange designs (they are sacred symbols used long ago) on either side of one of the heads in the lower picture; but what will strike you most will be the long curls of hair, and the hands pressed to the breast or folded and pressed together as if in prayer; and, above all, you will notice that all these people seem to be asleep; their eyes are closed and their hands folded or pressed to their breast, and they all look as if they were either asleep or praying, or very peaceful and at perfect rest. These people are not dead; look at their faces and mark generally the attitudes of repose.

Now let us find something worth remembering about all this.

The tombstone is made like a little house to represent the home of the dead. But at the time I am speaking of the people believed that only those who died bravely fighting would have a life of happiness afterwards; other people who were not wicked people at all--but all who died of sickness or old age--went to the cold, dark world ruled over by a goddess called "Hel," who was the daughter of the Evil one. "Such is the origin of our word Hell, the name of a goddess applied to a locality. Her domains were very great and her yard walls very high. Hunger is her dish, starvation her knife, care is her bed, a beetling cliff is the threshold of her hall, which is hung with grief." All, except the warriors who died fighting, however good, went to her domain. It might be thought that to be with such a goddess after death was bad enough, but there was a worse place. For the wicked another place was prepared, a great hall and a bad one; its doors looked northward. It was altogether wrought of adders' backs wattled together, and the heads of the adder all turned inwards, and spit venom, so that rivers of venom ran along the hall, and in those rivers the wicked people must wade for ever.

The Christian wished to show that this terrible idea of man's future state was to fire away to something better through the Lord of Life, our Lord Jesus Christ, and so they set up crosses and carried triquetra, the sign of the ever blessed Trinity, on their sculptured tombs to teach the people to believe no longer in gods and goddesses of darkness, but to look to one God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to drive away all evil spirits from their hearts, and to give them a quiet time and a perfect end. Was there any wonder that years afterwards, when the bright light shone forth from the Cross to disperse the dark clouds of paganism, that men said that holy men, such as Patrick, Kentigern and Cuthbert had driven all poisonous snakes out of the land? The twisted and coiling thing beneath the figures is no doubt the old serpent. The Cross of Christ and the ash tree Yggdrasil of the northern tribes bore a like meaning at a certain time to the mixed peoples on this coast. (W. S. Collingwood.)

ANGLO-DANISH MONUMENTS.

The great variety of ornament found in the North Riding Monuments shows that in four centuries many influences were brought to bear upon the sculptors' art, and much curious development went on, of which we may in the future understand the cause.

Our early sculptors, like the early painters, were men trying hard to express their ideals, which we have to understand before we can appreciate their work. The Anglian people included writers and thinkers like Bede and Alcuin, and that their two centuries of independence in the country of which the North Riding was the centre and heart, were two centuries of a civilization which ranked high in the world of that age. The Danish invasion, so lamentable in its earlier years, brought fresh blood and new energies in its train, and up to the Norman Conquest this part of England was rich and flourishing.

In writing the history of its art, part of the material will be found in these monuments.

The material of which these sculptures are made is usually of local stone. They were carved on the spot and not imported ready made.

In the progress of Anglian art we have the development which began with an impulse coming from the north, and ending with influence coming from the south.

The monuments were possibly executed by Anglian sculptors under the control of Danish Conquerors. Even under the early heathen rule of the Danes, Christians worked and lived, and as each succeeding colony of Danes became Christianised, they required gravestones, and Churches to be carved for them.

Following a generation of transition, at the end of the ninth century, monuments are found displaying Danish taste. The close connection of the York kingdom with Dublin, provides a reason for the Irish influence. Abundant evidence is found in the chain pattern, and ring patterns, the dragons, and wheelheads, which are hacked and not finished into a rounded surface by chiselling.

The Brompton hogbacks are among the finest works of this period.

The Stainton bear, and the Wycliffe bear, are also of this period.

The Pickhill hogback has an Irish-Scandavian dragon, and other dragons are to be seen at Gilling, Crathorne, Easington, Levisham, Sinnington, and Pickering.

New influences came from the Midlands into Yorkshire, after the fall of the Dublin-York kingdom, about the year 950. One instance of this advance in the sculptor's art is to be seen in the round shaft, trimmed square above, at Gilling, Stanwick, and Middleton, which came from Mercia, and passed on into Cumberland, where it is to be found at Penrith and Gosforth. These latter have Edda subjects and appear to be late tenth century.

Gilling has a curious device, which may possibly be the völund wing wheel, and völund appears on the Leeds cross, and also at Neston in Cheshire.

The Scandinavian chain pattern, frequent on the _stones_ of the North Riding, and in Cumberland, is entirely absent in manuscripts. There must have been books at Lastingham, Hackness, Gilling, and other great monasteries, but the stone-carvers did not copy them.

The Ormside cup, on the other hand, has close analogies with the two important monuments at Croft and Northallerton, which seem to be the leading examples of the finest style, from which all the rest evolve, not without influence from abroad at successive periods. It is to relief work rather than to manuscripts that we must look for the inspiration of the sculptors.

In these monuments linked together we can trace the continuation of the Viking age style during the later half of the tenth century and the early part of the eleventh centuries. The stone carver's art was reviving, stones were becoming more massive, which means that they were more skilfully quarried, the cutting is more close and varied, and on its terms the design is more decorative and artistic, though still preserving its northern character among impulses and influences from the south. But there is no room here for the Bewcastle cross or the Hovingham stone. We have an example of this period's attempt to imitate.

It is probable that the stone carving was a traditional business, began by St. Wilfrid's, and Benedict Bishop's imported masons, and carried on in a more or less independent development as it is to-day.

With the Danish invasion began a period of new influences which were not shaken off until after the Norman Conquest.

The interlaced work was abandoned in the tenth century by southern sculptors, remained the national art of the north. The Manx, Irish, and Scotch kept it long after the eleventh century, and so did the Scandinavians.

The Bewcastle cross in the Gigurd shaft of the cross at Halton in Lancashire, and if this development has been rightly described the Halton shaft is easily understood.

In the period covered by the eleventh century dials inscribed with Anglo-Danish names date themselves. Interlacing undergoes new development, becoming more open and angular, until we get right lined plaits like Wensley, it is better cut, as the later part of the century introduces the masons who rebuilt the churches and began the abbeys. No longer was the work hacked but clean chiselled, and intermingled with new grotesques; we find it at Hackness, in the impost, and in the fonts at Alne and Bowes, where we are already past the era of the Norman Conquest.

Anglian work of the simpler forms and earlier types date 700 A.D.

Full development of Anglian art, middle of eighth century to its
close.

Anglian work in decline, or in ruder hands, but not yet showing
Danish influence, early ninth century.

Transitional, such as Anglian carvers might have made for Danish
conquerors, late ninth century.

Anglo-Danish work showing Irish influence, early half of the
tenth century.

Anglo-Danish work with Midland influence, later part of tenth and
beginning of eleventh century.

Eleventh century, Pre-Norman.

Post-Conquest, developed out of pre Norman art.

Recumbent monuments were grave-slabs, which may have been coffin lids, such as must have fitted the Saxon rock graves at Heysham, Lancashire, while other forms may have simply marked the place under which a burial was made. They are found with Anglian lettering at Wensley, another has been removed from Yarm, and those of the Durham district are well known.

The two stones at Wensley may have been recumbent, like the Melsonby stones. The Spennithorne slab bears crosses of the earlier Northumbrian type, seen again in the West Wilton slab. At Crathorne are two slabs, with "Maltese" crosses apparently late, all the preceding being of the fine style.

Levisham slab has an Irish Scandinavian dragon.

Grave slabs are found of all periods and styles. Shrine-shaped tombs are known in various parts of England, with pre-Viking ornament. (W. S. Collingwood).

Runes