Furness Cross-Slab

Carved Granite Slab – Possibly Early Medieval Grave Slab

This recorded monument (KD019-024004-) was discovered in the churchyard of Furness Church in 1968 buried vertically with only a small portion protruding above the ground level.

It is a rather unusual stone and is described in the Record of Monuments and Places notes as “A gently tapering granite slab (dims. L 1.62m; Wth 0.37-0.53m; T 0.22m) carries a broad shaft and transom of a cross carved in low relief, with the head of the cross formed by a circular disc from which an incised line runs down the centre of the shaft.” However, as the model below shows, the “circular disc” present on the top of the transom is not very clearly defined.

The form of the stone is suggestive of a large early medieval grave-slab; tentatively confirmed by Chris Corlett from images of the model. He suggests a date range of pre-Norman, but quite likely post-1000. If the intended use of the stone was as a grave-slab it would have originally been recumbent. The carving has the appearance (to me) of possibly being an unfinished work. Chris Corlett has suggested that the incised line may actually be secondary as the main armed carving has an anthropomorphic appearance.

Untextured View

The model below has been uploaded without a “texture” (i.e. photographic image data projected onto a 3D model) in order to remove colour information and other details, such as lichen, that can distract the eye and obscure the true form of the surface topography. The result enables a much more accurate view of the stone’s form, and of the carvings on the surface, as opposed to what may appear to be there due to colour information misleading the eye into seeing patterns that do not exist. This can occur even when standing in front of the monument.