Browse Items (29 total)

St Hilda's Church is located in the village of Ellerburn in Rydale, North Yorkshire. The history of the church dates back to the Anglo-Saxon period. Built into the fabric of the present church are over thirteen early sculptural and architectural…

The church of St Andrew's at Middleton dates to the Anglo-Saxon period, and also preserves a considerable amount of Saxon architecture and Viking sculpturework. The bottom of the tower is part of the original Anglo-Saxon building, and the Saxon door…

These notes describe a project carried out at the Manchester Museum in the University of Manchester as part of the redisplay of the museum galleries in 1999-2000, to recolour a set of casts of the crosses at Bewcastle and Ruthwell churches acquired…

2006BC6621_jpg_l and 2006BC6622_jpg_l. The cross is one of the rare surviving pieces which give substance to descriptions in contemporary documentary sources of the sumptuous church furnishings of pre-Conquest England. The enamels are unique in…

The delicately carved archer on the lid of this cross probably represents a figure from the Old Testament: Ishmael, son of Abraham. The reverse shows the Lamb of God surrounded by the four symbols of the evangelists. The cross originally formed a…

2006AD1299_jpg_l. This is a head of an Anglo-Saxon tau cross in walrus ivory. The tau cross is a form of crozier head, named for its shape after the Greek letter T. The winged seraph is a reference to the vision of Isaiah in which singed seraphim…

2008BV1261_jpg_l. The monumental free standing cross was a phenomenon unique to the British Isles and Ireland, and this is one of the finest surviving examples. Carved with great skill, the decoration unites interlace patterns of the British Isles…

2006AM6059_jpg_l. This panel representing the Crucifixion was probably made in the late 10th century or early 11th century in England. The representation of the Crucifixion with Longinus and Stephaton alone, without the Virgin and St. John, as on…

2009CA7155_jpg_l. Pectoral crosses were worn on a chain or cord around the neck, and acted as charms to protect the wearer. The pectoral cross was commonly worn by bishops and abbots in the medieval period. The figure style and the particular…

The granite shaft is decorated with simple interlaced patterns, broadly datable to the 10th or 11th centuries. It would formerly have been surmounted by a head in the form of a cross. Six such cross-shafts survive in Devon, the others being at…