NEWCA/1

Macalister/1949, 163: `discovered in or about 1852 in the course of alteration-works in the church. After a sojourn in the graveyard, it has now been secured on the inside face of the north wall of the tower'.

RCAHMW/1976, 66: `Coped grave-slab...at St. Leonard's Church, discovered in 1853 serving as a step (with No. 983) to the S. door of the chancel[1] and subsequently set upright against the internal N. wall of the W. tower.

[1] Arch. Camb., 1852, p. 256; 1873, p. 192'.

RCAHMW/1976, 66: `Sutton stone'.

RCAHMW/1976, 66: `at St. Leonard's Church...set upright against the internal N. wall of the W. tower'.

Macalister/1949, 163: `A ridged flat tombstone -- not a coffin lid as stated (1873)...It measures 6' 3" x 1' 10" (at top, 1' 4" at bottom) x 1' 0". The vertical part of the side is 8" high'.

Nash-Williams/1950, 158: `Square-headed coped grave-slab, tapering slightly to the foot. 8" h. x 75" l. x 22" w. at head, diminishing to 14" w. at foot...The slab bears carved and incised decoration and is also inscribed...The stone is a Continental Carolingian (and later) type,[2] which was presumably introduced into S. Wales at the time of the Norman Conquest.

[2] Ibid., [Coutil/1931] opp. pp. 50, 54, 67. The type is not improbably derived ultimately from the Merovingian crossed or `encircled Chi-Rho' grave-slab. See p. 179, note 3'.

RCAHMW/1976, 66--67: `Coped grave-slab...The weathered slab of Sutton stone is 1.9 m long and 56 cm wide at the slightly convex head tapering to 38 cm at the squared foot; at the ridge it is 30cm thick, the surface sloping to vertical sides of 20 cm. It has carved and incised ornament as well as inscriptions...The form of the stone with a processional cross in relief, recalls some late Saxon coped slabs,[2] but the decoration and lettering point to an 11th-century or early 12th-century date.

[2] At Crosscanonby (Cumberland) and Hickling (Notts.), T. D. Kendrick, Late Saxon and Viking Art (London, 1949), Pls. 45, 53'.

Westwood/1879, 51: `The cross itself forming the summit of the ridge of the coped stone is of the Maltese form, with a central boss and with the ends of the arms gradually widening and marked by oblique incised lines in pairs, the lower limb of the cross terminating in a long and gradually tapering stem of a twisted or rope-like form, the slender lower end being worn smooth...On the side of the head of the cross towards the spectator is a square interlaced ribbon design, the ribbons formed of double raised lines. The corresponding space on the other side of the head of the cross is almost worn smooth, but a careful rubbing shows the double interlacing ribbons as well as their recurved ends in various parts, so that I do not hesitate to consider that originally it resembled the other side. These interlaced spaces are followed by two transverse lines of inscription...The two spaces below the arms of the cross are occupied by two quadrangular ribbon ornaments tied into a simple knot at each of the four angles...As noticed above, the quadrangular 4-knotted ornament (which is repeated of a small size at the end of the inscription) occurs on the coped coffin-lid at Llantwit, with the inscription in Lombardic capitals printed in Plate XXX. fig. 3, which can scarcely be referred to an earlier period than the twelfth century.

The peculiar twisted cord-like stem of the cross on this Newcastle stone is of rare occurrence, but is seen on a slab in the churchyard of Llanfihangel Aber Cowen, near St. Clear's, Caermarthenshire, as referred to in my article on Welsh Monumental Effigies, Arch. Camb., 1847, p. 317'.

Macalister/1928, 310: `it bears a cross with an infula or streamer wrapped round the stem, and two inscriptions'.

Macalister/1949, 163: `The vertical part of the side...on the dexter side bears an arcading of twelve round-headed arches: the sinister side is blank, and so was presumably turned toward the wall. The coped top bears a processional cross fitchée, with an infula wrapped spirally round the stem. The top of the slab is recessed by 1/4", and then slopes diagonally, as is shown in the diagram...In each of the upper two cantons of the processional cross there is a clumsily designed fret, having the...inscription below...On both sides there are similar frets below the transom of the cross, and on the sinister side, underneath the fret, is...[the] inscription'.

Nash-Williams/1950, 158--160: `Face. The ridged face is filled with a cross carved in low relief, comprising a head of `Maltese' form, with central raised boss and faintly splayed arms filled with incised herring-bone pattern, and a long, tapering, cabled stem disposed, like the central limbs of the head, along the ridged summit of the face.[3] In the field on either side of the cross are carved and incised devices and an inscription: (a) top l., and (b) top r., plain rectilinear grid of plaitwork, with parts of a Latin inscription below, in each case in two lines reading horizontally (see (1) and (2) below); (c) bottom l., looped square (cf. No. 61) in low relief; (d) bottom r., two looped squares (as before) with the rest of the inscription (3)...Left Edge. Band of arcading[1] carved in low relief. The other edges are plain'.

[3] Crosses of closely similar style appear on two early medieval (? Norman) grave-slabs at Llanfihangel Abercywyn (Carm.). See RCAM (Carm.),[RCAHMW/1917] fig. 115 (top).

[1] Cf. AMC, [Coutil/1931] opp. p. 62. This feature also occurs on late coped stones in Cornwall (cf. OCC, [Langdon/1896] pl. opposite p. 145)'.

RCAHMW/1976, 67: `The upper half of the coped surface contains an equal-armed cross in low relief, its arms formed of double-beaded cable-twist around a central boss which has traces of plain knotwork. The upper arm abuts a convex edge-moulding at the top, the slightly expanded cross arms extend to the edges of the slab, and the lower arm rests against the expanded terminal of a stem of single-beaded cable-twist forming the ridge; the whole thus takes the form of a processional cross. The upper panels of the head each contain an incised pattern of plain six-cord plaitwork (that to the right almost obliterated), with an inscription (see below). In each of the lower panels is a single-beaded square with large loops at the angles, and near the base to the right of the stem is a similar device set diagonally, all in low relief. A second inscription fills the face between the two looped squares on the right.

One vertical side of the slab, to the left of the coped face, is decorated with a series of twelve double-beaded half-loops in low relief imitating arcading, but is much defaced by weathering of the stone'.

Macalister/1928, 310: `two inscriptions, one in Roman capitals at the head of the stone, and one in minuscular letters along the sinister side of the cross-shaft'.

Nash-Williams/1950, 158--160: `In the field on either side of the cross are carved and incised devices and an inscription: (a) top l., and (b) top r., plain rectilinear grid of plaitwork, with parts of a Latin inscription below, in each case in two lines reading horizontally (see (1) and (2) below)...(d) bottom r., two looped squares (as before) with the rest of the inscription (3) between, in two lines reading vertically downwards'.

RCAHMW/1976, 66: `The inscription above the horizontal arms of the cross is incised in two horizontal lines each side of the stem...and presumably continued by the second inscription incised in two lines down the face'.

Macalister/1949, 164: `The names [MERERB and HURUM] are strange, and it is hard to see why the commercial transactions of these persons are so conspicuously recorded'.

Nash-Williams/1950, 160: `For the formula used in (3) cf. No. 61'.

Possibly the first line on the left-hand side may have commenced with the word HIC, while the second line seems occupied with the word QVIQVE. The first line on the right-hand side looks something like NIVN, and the second line seems clearly to end with EIVS.

Below this ornament, on the further side of the stone, are two lines of inscription...With the assistance of Augustus Franks, Esq., the keen-eyed Director of the Society of Antiquaries (with whom my pleasant acquaintance dates from the first Caernarvon Meeting of the Cambrian Archaeological Association in 1848), I think the following may be the possible reading of the inscription:--

CG(?)ER(?)ERT(?) FECIT LAPIDES

EMIT hU(??) PVM LAPIDES.

The letters of the inscription are very rude, and cannot, I think, be more recent than the tenth or beginning of the eleventh century, to which date I believe that the tomb itself must be referred'.

Macalister/1928, 310--311: `two inscriptions, one in Roman capitals at the head of the stone, and one in minuscular letters along the sinister side of the cross-shaft. Of none of these inscriptions has any satisfactory decipherment been hitherto published, so I venture to give my own attempts, arrived at after about three hours' close study of the stone (fig. 11). The inscription at the head I read HIC IACET RICARDVS OVIBus VERIS EIVS -- the `us' of `ovibus' being represented by a symbol of contraction common in manuscripts...The inscriptions at the side are less easy to explain, though their purport is clear enough...There is some doubt about the reading of the second name, owing to a fracture of the surface of the stone; but the second is clear enough'.

Macalister/1949, 164: `The first letter [of MERERB] is not the A that it looks like in the diagram. The R of HURUM is broken but legible'.

Nash-Williams/1950, 160: `The reading of the complete inscription (damaged---Fig. 172) is as follows: (1) [D(?)]IC [ET(?)] C/OVLGVE // (2) N . FILIV/S . EIVS . // (3) [B(?)]ERER[ ] FECIT . LAPIDEM // EMIT HUHIVM(?) LAPIDEM . . . ...Debased round half-uncials, coarsely picked in clumsy style. The reading of the first two lines is uncertain. The M with the first lobe closed or looped is an 11th--12th century form, though exceptionally found in Wales at an earlier date (see Nos. 124, 214)'.

RCAHMW/1976, 67: `The lettering (Fig. 18) combines debased half-uncials (H, E, G, M) with revived Roman capitals (V, R, N, T) of which the V-s have prominent serifs; the first G in the second line is partly defaced by a fracture but its tail can be traced; and the form of the M-s with the first two minims closed as a loop is a late feature, though also occurring on an early inscription (No. 850). Punctuation dots separate the words'.

Westwood/1879, 51: `two transverse lines of inscription, which are so far defaced that I fear it will be impossible to recover their true import...on the further side of the stone, are two lines of inscription, which are unfortunately so much defaced as to render the reading very difficult. This is especially the case in the portions occupied by what appear to be two proper names'.

Macalister/1949, 164: `The inscription is worn, and its decipherment has given much trouble'.