LOT 0582

Anglo-Saxon Huntingdon Limestone Interlaced Cross-Shaft

8TH-10TH CENTURY AD

31 1/2 x 11 3/4 x 7" (70 kg, 80 x 30 x 18 cm).

A rectangular section of architectural stonework with a panel of three-cord interlace to one narrow face, chamfered border to one long edge and raised border to the other; later re-cut with a ledge to the reverse and rectangular socket cut through the interlace; mounted on a custom-made stand.

Found within building rubble of late Anglo-Saxon date, below the footings of a Tudor wall, between Huntingdon Police Station and an adjacent footpath, when the latter was demolished in 2010. The taper of the stone faces and the interlace ornament indicate that it was originally erected as a preaching cross, probably in the later 7th or 8th century AD. Subsequently, probably in the 10th century, the cross was taken down and parts were selected for re-use as pre-dressed ashlar in a stone (ecclesiastical?) building. This piece may have served as a ledge or door jamb, since the rebate was probably added to one face at this time and possibly the socket also. At some later date, possibly connected with either Norman or later re-modelling of the building, the stone was removed and found its way into the foundations of the Tudor wall.

See Cramp, R. Grammar of Anglo-Saxon Ornament, Oxford, 1984.