A Manual for the Study of the Sepulchral Slabs and Crosses of the Middle Ages

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1849 edition. Excerpt: ...before the Norman Conquest, was into what is usually called the head-cross. This is a stone from one to three feet high, ahdoT3n1erent shapes, placed upright at the head of the grave, and sometimes accompanied by a smaller stone at the foot of the grave. These head-crosses appear to have come into use (as has been said) about A.D. 950. Where the dead was buried in a stone coffin, its lid formed his monument; these headstones seem to have been placed over the grave in cases where a coffin of wood or lead, or no coffin at all, was used. They continued in use until the Reformation, soon after which they were again modified into the tall, square, ugly stones, which now crowd and disfigure our churchyards. Few ancient examples of head-stones remain, but from those which we have, we see that they are divided into several distinct kinds. First the stone itself is cut into the form of a cross of more or less elaborate design, as in the example from Glendalough, Plate Lxxvi.; from Lancaster, Plate Lxxviii.; and that from Camboe chapel, Northumberland, given in the margin; and Handborough, Oxfordshire, Plate Lxxxi. This kind is susceptible of an infinite variety of forms, and is perhaps the most beautiful kind of Camboe Chapel, Northumberland. monument. In another kind the stone is left square, or the head is rounded off, and a cross is incised upon the face of it, sometimes on both faces, as in examples from Cambridge and Bakewell, Plates Lxxviii., Lxxix., Lxxx., and Lxxxi. Sometimes the cross is in relief upon the face of the stone, as in examples from New Romney; St. Mary-le-Wigford, Lincoln; and Tackley, Oxfordshire, Plate Lxxxi. Varieties in the treatment of the head are seen in the third Bakewell example, Plate Lxxx.; Handborough and Tackley, ..