ANGLIAN AND ANGLO-DANISH SCULPTURE IN THE NORTH RIDING OF YORKSHIRE. By W. G. COLLINGWOOD, M.A., F.S.A. IN the North Riding there are about 260 stones, at sixty sites,' with carving of a pre-Norman character. Though most of them are fragmentary, they give data for nearly 250 monuments of the Anglian age that is to say, the period of more than two centuries between the conversion and the Danish invasion-and the Anglo-Danish age, ending with the Norman Conquest. The illustrations to this paper show all the carving on all these monuments, except in cases where a reference to other examples is enough for description. The figures are engraved to the uniform scale of one-twelfth, showing graphically the relative proportions and the fineness or coarseness of the work. With some exceptions, noted as they occur, they are from the author's drawings on the spot, checked by measurements, and sometimes helped by photographs taken at the time of examination. The photographs are not given, for the line sketches are more explanatory. Any details of low-relief carving on broken and weathered stones are liable to be lost or confused in a photograph; and not even the best photograph really enables a student to dispense with personal knowledge of the original. An attempt has been made to collect all accessible remains ; much help and information have been received from the incumbents of the churches where the relics are preserved, and from others, among whom Mr. William Brown, F.S.A., must especially be mentioned and thanked. Mr. J. Romilly Allen, F.S.A., Hon. F.S.A. Scot., has most kindly read the proof of this paper, and supplied four sites previously overlooked, together with valuable remarks which are acknowledged in the text. But in spite of assistance and care, it is impossible to be certain that some examples have not been missed; not to say that new stones are continually being found. There are a few sites, however, which are purposely omitted from the list. In Mr. J. E. Morris's Guide to the North Riding (Methuen, 1904) forty-eight sites are named as exhibiting "Saxon" remains. Of these, 1 From some of these sites, and from three others, stones have been removed; making a total of about 280 known fragments from sixty-three places in the North Riding. four do not seem to be pre-Norman :-(1) Alne font, (2) Barton-leStreet cross-base, (3) Bowes interlaced fragment and fonts, and (4) Kirkby Knowle cross-head have no distinct marks of pre-Norman art. Mr. Morris's book, however, has been of great service in many ways, and though sixteen sites are here added, some would, no doubt, have been overlooked but for his help. Several stones to which attention was drawn did not seem to warrant their inclusion in the list, as, for instance, the "Panther" stone at Newton-underRoseberry, many fragments of grave-covers, and a number of unornamented cross-sockets. It is not the object of this paper to give a complete account of pre-Norman sculpture, but only to describe the North Riding stones; nor even is it intended to review the literature already in existence dealing with these, but to take them on their own merits, and see them with a fresh eye. It is impossible, however, to avoid some attempt at classification, which must be done in the briefest way, and with the smallest amount of explicit reference to examples outside the district and to the other arts. Still, with a series of this fulness and interest, there is room for comparison. The great variety of ornament and treatment in these North Riding monuments alone shows that in four centuries many influences were brought to bear upon the sculptor's art, and much curious development went on, of which in the future we shall understand the progress and its causes. Nowadays these styles and periods are popularly, and most unjustly, confused under the heading of Barbaric Ornament; or, if they are discussed, the names of Celtic and Carlovingian are too easily applied. Just so, a hundred years back, all pre-Renaissance pictures were passed over as Byzantine or Gothic, the worthless efforts of semi-savage mediævals who could not draw. In time we shall learn of our early sculptors, as we have learnt of early painters, that they were men trying hard to express ideals which we have to understand before we can appreciate their work, and that the history of their endeavours is discoverable in their remains. We know, at any rate, that the Anglian people included writers and thinkers like Bede and Alcuin; that their two centuries of independence, in the country of which the North Riding was the centre and heart, were two centuries of a civilisation which ranked high in the world of that age; that the Danish invasion, so lamentable in its earlier years, brought fresh blood and new energies in its train; and that up to the Norman Conquest this part of England was rich and flourishing. Its art-history remains to be written, and part of the material will be found in these monuments. We have, therefore, to compare the forms of art here before us, and to study their materials and technic; then to examine their subject-matter, figures, animals and ornament; and, finally, to suggest a grouping of the remains in accordance with our analysis. As the plates of drawings are arranged alphabetically, it is hoped that the reader will have no difficulty in referring to the examples as they come under notice. MATERIALS OF THE MONUMENTS. The material of which these sculptures are made is usually the local stone. They must have been carved on the spot, and not imported ready made. The great cross at Stonegrave is of limestone; the white door-jamb at Lastingham is said to be a foreign stone, but most appear to be sandstones and freestones quarried in the neighbourhood, or picked up off the surface. Some which are more finely carved seem to be of closer-grained material, chosen with care, as if by masons accustomed to stone-work; others, less skilfully cut, are coarse blocks or slabs. For instance, Croft a, Easby, Hovingham, Lastingham a, Masham a, Northallerton a, Pickhill, Wensley a, b, d and g, are fine stones finely cut; while at Bedale, Brompton, Finghall, Middleton, Reycross, West Witton (b), a rougher material served for rougher work. On the other hand, some works which must be attributed to skilled carvers are done in coarse stone; the Kirkby Hill impost is of yellow grit, though the ruder stones ƒ and i, at the same place, are of still coarser stone. The beautiful Masham pillar is of very rough yellow freestone, perhaps because it was the only block available for a work of that size. The Cundall shaft is in hard brown stone; Lastingham a is dark grey, and Stanwick is a hard grey stone. At Crathorne the lintel is of finer material than the ruder carvings, suggesting a different period. Fine stone is used for coarse work at Amotherby, Ellerburn, Finghall, Forcett, Hauxwell e, and Thornton Steward. Red stone is usually associated with clumsy design and rude cutting; the West Witton slab is, indeed, of fine light-red freestone, but coarse red sandstone is used for Croft e, Easington g and i, Forcett d and e, Kirkby Hill b, f and i, Kirklevington and Ormesby a. The use of red stone may conceivably have been adopted in ruder. times to supersede painting. It is possible that some of these monuments were coloured, as many mediæval sculptures were. In Kirklevington aa and Stonegrave e there seem to be traces of paint, in both cases red. The patina which still makes many of these old and exposed surfaces weatherproof may be artificial, and perhaps the result of painting. We know that boats of the Viking Age were |