The decoration is of an extremely rare type, and has survived the effects of weathering comparatively well. It consists of seven bands, depicting vine scrolls, various animals, acanthus, and lattice-work.[1]
Kendrick (1938) considered the decoration to be unique; the only surviving example in England which demonstrated the southern continental Baroque style.[2] He also thought (1949) that it illustrated "a taste for a crowded display of finicky decoration", which is also reflected in the later Stapleford Cross.[3]
History
Phyllis Nicklin, of the University of Birmingham, notes that the 14-foot high shaft is of similar size to the columns of the forum at the Roman city of Viriconium, near Wroxeter, and speculates that the shaft may have been taken from there by the Anglian carvers.[4] If so, the shaft would have been quarried c. 100-150 AD.[5]
The carving is Anglo-Saxon, but the date is uncertain. The cross may have been carved and erected around 850 AD,[5][6] or more probably from around AD 996 when a college was founded at this site.[7]
An excavation by Michael M. Rix in 1949 revealed that the pillar is still standing on its original Saxon foundation, consisting of a stepped base approximately 2.4m in diameter, located one metre below the present ground level. At some later date, the base of the pillar has been propped up with mortared rubble.[1]
