CARDM/1

Okasha/1993, 85: `Until 1872 the cross was imbedded in two pieces in the fifteenth-century chancel wall of the church. During restoration of the church in that year, the pieces of the cross were removed and the cross re-erected in its present position'.

Langdon/1896, 355--357: `The four-holed head is outlined by a bead on the angles of the cross and ring. On the side of the ring, and in the middle, is a broad projecting fillet … a detail not found on any other example. All four sides are deeply sculptured, as follows:

Front -- On the head are remains of knotwork similar to that on the back, but formed of a single instead of a double bead. Unfortunately, the Stafford knots on the left and lower limbs have nearly disappeared. The shaft is divided into three panels. That at the top is inscribed in Saxon minuscules … In the middle panel is a curious interlaced knot, which is much worn in the centre. The lower panel is much longer than those above, and contains irregular, broken, six-cord plaitwork, with an intervening space between the knots, the whole being very coarsely executed.

Left side -- On the head, and the end of the arm, is a figure-of-eight knot, irregularly terminated at the top. On the shaft is a continuous panel of interlaced work. It commences at the top with a three-cord plait, one band of which stops abruptly against another near the bottom. The other two cords are carried on, and twist, and, the crossings being emphasised by a ring, form a very clear example of the twist-and-ring pattern.

Back -- On the head is a central boss. Each limb is ornamented with a double-beaded Stafford knot, with the outer bands crossed over at the angle next to the central boss and joined to the knots on the arm at either side, thus forming a complete and beautiful interlaced knot. The only similar instance of this treatment is on No. 4 cross, Sancreed. On the shaft is a continuous panel of very bold, foliated. and rather squarely formed scrollwork, having a leaf alternately with a ball in the spandrils. On the main, or outside bead of each scroll, and close to where they bifurcate, is what is probably intended for, and is termed in botany, a `bract,' or kind of cup, a very common detail in classical ornament.

Right side -- On the head, at the end of the arm, is a Z-shaped key pattern, which might otherwise be looked upon as a pair of twisted bands. The shaft is divided into two panels of uneven depth, and contains two entirely different patterns. The upper panel is the shorter, and has a square key pattern, but unlike that on the head, and formed by [interlocking] T's...The ornament in the lower panel consists of a debased form of chains and rings...This is `a very peculiar pattern which occurs in Great Britain only in the Isle of Man and adjacent parts of Cumberland and Anglesea. As the stones in this district are partly Scandinavian, and the same ornament occurs on a rune-inscribed font at Gallstad Church, Westgotland, and is not found on any other of the purely Celtic stones or manuscripts, this design may be fairly said to be of Scandinavian origin' (J. R. Allen).

Note -- The Z-shaped key pattern or twist, above referred to, occurs also at Gulval and Minister, in Cornwall, at Kirkby Wharfe, in the north of England, and in Scotland and Invergowrie, Kilkerran, Benvie, Liberton, and St. Andrews'.

Macalister/1949, 178: `The devices, which were probably pocked on the stone, are accurately drawn by Langdon, but are now in poor and worn condition: they combine with interlacements of the ordinary type a pattern of running spirals, and a specimen of the `ring-chain' characteristic of the Isle of Man, not elsewhere found in the South or West of England. The inscription is at the top of the shaft, on the southern face of the stone'.

Okasha/1993, 85: `The text is probably complete but rather deteriorated'.