The Corpus: Macclesfield 1

Volume 9: Cheshire and Lancashire

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Current Display: Macclesfield 1, Cheshire

Overview

Object type: Part of shaft [1]

Measurements: H. 34 cm (13.5 in); W. 27 > 24 cm (10.5 > 9.5 in); D. 18 > 15 cm (7 > 6 in)

Stone type: Not examined

Plate numbers in printed volume: Ills. 177-80

Corpus volume reference: Vol 9 p. 83

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National Grid Reference of Place of Discovery

SJ 918737

Present Location

In the Savage chapel in the church, behind a piano

Evidence for Discovery

Discovered in the course of the present restoration under one of the walls of the Legh chapel' (Boyd 1901, 17).

Church Dedication

St Michael; formerly All Hallows

Present Condition

Good

Description

All faces are bordered laterally by a flat moulding.

A (broad): Two diagonal strands with parts of two ring-encircled crossings

B (narrow): Four-strand plait

C (broad): Two diagonal strands with one complete and one incomplete encircled crossings; the strands are median-incised.

D (narrow): Type 2 meander pattern

Discussion

The combination of these particular decorative motifs (ring-encircled crossings, meander pattern and plait) is typical of Viking-age carvings (Bailey 1980, 71–2). They recur in combination locally on Rainow 1, Disley Lyme Hall 1 and on several of the stones from Chester St John (Ills. 80, 81–4, 131–2, 138, 240–1).

Date

Tenth or early eleventh century

References

Boyd 1901, 17, pl. facing 18; Thacker 1987, 290; Sidebottom 1994, 260, 116, 118, 128, 148, 152–3, and pls.; Austin 1999, 81–2

Endnotes

[1] The following are general references to the Macclesfield stones: Sylvester and Nulty 1958, 14; Higham, N. 1993b, 172.