Jarrow, Anglo-Saxon cross-shaft

The upper fragment of a cross-shaft in medium-grained yellow sandstone. Only one face and the fragment of another survive. The cutting is deep but surface detail worn. It includes an inhabited scroll framed in double flat-band moulding, and a plant scroll within a double-roll moulding. It is 21 cm high x 28.5 cm wide x 8 cm deep. It was found in October 1936 about 300 yards south-east of the church near the north abutment of Old Don Bridge during excavations for sand on the site of the Old Bridge Inn. Perhaps originally from the eastern perimeter of the monastery, either in the lay burial ground or at the entrance from the south overland route. It has been dated to the first half of the 8th century A.D.