A HISTORY OF NORFOLK
Rev. A. B. Hemsworth, the rector, preserved the stones from destruction, and caused them to be placed together in the floor of the chancel, where they now lie. The slab, which is of sandstone, measures (now that the two parts are joined) 5 feet 3^ inches long, by I foot 9 inches wide at one end and I foot 3 inches wide at the other. It is 5 inches thick in the centre, sloping away to 4 inches at each side. The ornamental features consist of almost circular crosses (with expanded ends to the arms) at each end of the slab, connected by a flat band 2 inches broad, running along the central axis, having two panels of four-cord plaitwork on each side. The crosses and the connecting band between them are sculptured in relief above the rest of the surface of the slab. The plaitwork in two of the panels has been partly defaced by the initials I.M. of a certain J. Mansfield, over whose grave this half of the slab at one time stood as a headstone. The monument at Rockland has been described and illustrated by J. R. Allen in a paper on ' Recent Discoveries of Pre-Norman Sculptured Stones ' in the Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xli, 269.
The Pre-Norman cross at Whissonsett was found on 24 April, 1900, by the sexton whilst digging a grave in the churchyard, at a depth of about three feet beneath the ground. It is at present in the organ chamber, but the rector, the Rev. Francis Lane (to whom I am indebted for the particulars here given), proposes to fix it more permanently within the chancel at the first convenient opportunity. The cross is 2 feet 5 inches high by i foot 6 inches wide across the head and 1 1 inches across the shaft, by 4 inches thick. It is sculptured on all four faces with interlaced work. The arms of the cross on the head have expanded ends and are connected by a circular ring, the round hollows between the arms and the ring being pierced right through the stone. There is a circular raised boss in the centre of the head, and the interlaced work, which fills up the remaining space, ter- minates in a Stafford knot on each arm. The front of the shaft is ornamented with a pattern composed of a double row of Stafford knots, and on the narrow face with a three-cord plait. I am informed by the rector that the designs on the back and opposite narrow face are similar. This cross appears to be Celtic rather than Saxon in style.
For many years a portion of a pre-Norman cross-shaft was to be seen in the city of Norwich, built into the angle of a house attached to a stable yard at the north-west corner of the junction between Rose Lane and Cathedral Street South. The surface of the stone was, however, so thickly coated with whitewash and paint that the designs sculptured upon it were not sufficiently apparent to attract the attention of rambling antiquaries, and it was not until the house, of which it formed part, was pulled down in 1896, and the stone cleaned, that the true character of the ornament could be discerned. Although the carving was thus obscured until recently, the stone itself must have been noticed by the Ordnance surveyors, for they have cut one of their broad arrow bench-marks upon it. After being removed from the house into 556 Cross Slab at Rock- land.
