Jarrow, Anglo-Saxon cross-shaft

An incomplete cross-shaft, now lost. Raine recorded two portions of a cross with fretwork built into the north face of the tower in 1858 (sic). Boyle in 1885 said the two fragments were still in the north wall. The dimensions are given as 101.5 cm high x 25.5 cm wide. A drawing shows one face of the bottom section of a cross-shaft divided into panels by roll mouldings; on one panel a ring knot, on the other 2 curving loops. Ring-knot patterns are fairly common in the Durham area in the post-Anglian period, so this is an important confirmation of the archaeological evidence for the survival of a burial ground at Jarrow in the post-monastic period. It has been dated to the late 10th or early 11th century.