Some 24 stone sculptural fragments were found during these investigations, making this one of the largest and most important collections of Viking Age sculpture in Cumbria. Detailed comments must await publication of the final report, but here attention is drawn to some salient items.
An almost complete, circular cross-socket decorated with interlace and found in the foundations of the chancel arch is a most unusual discovery (Figures 8.4 and 8.5). An unfinished stone thought to be part of a grave cover rather than a cross was incorporated in the tower foundations. It is decorated with a simple cruciform key pattern (based on the St. Andrew’s cross) and two registers of interlace with zoomorphi-cised Stafford knots, linking it to the 10th century Beckermet group (Figure 8.6).
There are several cross-shaft fragments, including a cross-head with wedge-shaped arms decorated with a lorgnette cross arrangement comprising a central pelleted ring linked to bosses in each arm (Figure 8.7) that has close parallels in a number of places in west Cumbria as well as at Carlisle. A crossshaft has a vertebral ring chain on two broad faces and a narrow face decorated with two finely incised fronted creatures whose bodies then interlace. The local affinities of this piece include Gosforth and other west Cumbrian sites, but there are also links to the Scandinavian zoomorphic styles. A number of fragments of hogback grave covers were found, including some with animal head terminals, multiple ring chains, and tegulated roof fragments (Paterson 2000).
FIGURE 8.4 Cross-socket embedded in the foundation of the medieval church. Photo: Carlisle Archaeological Unit.
FIGURE 8.5 Decorative detail on the cross-socket (drawing by Philip Cracknell).
FIGURE 8.6 Grave cover in the tower foundations. Photo: Carlisle Archaeological Unit.
The excavation yielded a small number of early medieval artefacts, the contexts of which, although disturbed, reveal that some had accompanied inhumation burials. A gold finger ring is of Viking Age type, with its ends twisted into a knotted terminal and an outer face decorated with punched opposed triangles.
A copper-alloy buckle with a D-shaped loop and a sub-rectangular plate with an axially aligned row of boss-headed rivets belongs to a distinctive series of metalwork fittings from Hiberno-Norse contexts (Figure 8.8a), as does a copper-alloy strap end that still has the remains of a mineralised strap, probably from a waist belt, and which was decorated with simple incised ornament and ring and dot motifs, comparable with examples from the Isle of Man, the Western Isles, and Dublin (Figure 8.8b).
A second strap-end was found with a perforated whetstone and an iron knife. Other utilitarian finds include an iron sickle, clay loom weight and jet spindle whorl. All items can be paralleled in Hiberno-Norse contexts around the Irish Sea including Dublin, the Isle of Man, the Western Isles, and York (Paterson 2001).
The fragments of sculpture reflecting Scandinavian influence indicate that a Christian community was in existence during the 10th century in close proximity to the site of the 12th century church. The
FIGURE 8.7 Cross-head in the foundation of the medieval church. Photo: Carlisle Archaeological Unit.
(a)
O
(b)
FIGURE 8.8 (a) Copper-alloy D-shaped buckle and plate, (b) copper-alloy strap-end (drawings by Philip Cracknell).
Presence of burials with Hiberno-Norse finds indicates that this was a period of transition, with elements of pagan burial practise incorporated within a Christian context. Although contextual details have not been confirmed, it appears that the grave goods were not restricted to elements of clothing or small personal items suspended from clothing fasteners. They included utilitarian objects such as the loom weight and the sickle that reflect the deliberate deposit of grave goods typical of pagan ritual (Graslund 1987, p. 85).
This material reflection of the transition of pagan Norse settlers to Christian burial practice was observed elsewhere in the region, at St. Patrick’s Isle, Peel, Isle of Man (Freke 2001, pp. 73, 96-97) and Carlisle Cathedral (McCarthy et al., this volume; Paterson and Tweddle 2014; D. Tweddle, personal communication). At the latter site, the finds appear to be predominantly restricted to clothing fasteners, perhaps indicating that this community was one step further on in the ‘Christianisation’ process.
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