COYCH/2

Macalister/1949, 154: `It was destroyed by the fall of the church tower in 1876.

The stump of the cross remains, on the south side of the church, and some of its fragments are preserved inside the building; but the inscribed portion appears not to have survived'.

Nash-Williams/1950, 131: `The cross was shattered by the fall of the church tower in 1877'.

RCAHMW/1973, 59: `originally standing close to the S. wall of St. Crallo's Church. It was fractured by the collapse of the central tower in 1877 and has been re-assembled inside the church [1].

[1] Original position just W. of S. Transept (Arch. Camb., 1888, p. 402); present position at W. end of N. Aisle of Nave'.

Macalister/1949, 154: `A shaft decorated with key-pattern, bearing at the top a wheel-cross...The monument resembled those standing by the small chapel of Merthyr Mawr'.

Nash-Williams/1950, 130--131: `Composite wheel-headed pillar-cross of three members, comprising (a) combined wheel-head of Anglian type (wheel mostly fractured away) and quadrangular neck, (b) quadrangular shaft (fractured and incomplete(?) below) with plain chamfered angles, marked off above by a heavy beaded collar-moulding immediately below the mortise for the attachment of the neck, (c) truncated pyramidal base, with a moulded socket in the top for the accommodation of the butt of the cross-shaft. The dimensions of the three members are: (a) 34" h. (overall) x 11--13" w. (neck) x 7" t.; diam. of head, 25"; (b) 69" h. (overall) x 13" square; (c) 18" h. x 34" square at the bottom, diminishing to 24" square at the top. Base and butt are both plain. The cross and shaft are decorated on all faces with carved patterns (badly weathered and otherwise damaged) in low to medium relief...The form of the cross-shaft approximates to that of a medieval churchyard cross. The decoration, however, is purely Celtic'.

RCAHMW/1973, 59: `Consists of a cross-head (with ringed cross) on a quadrangular neck and squared shaft with a secondary splayed square base...The cross-head and neck are formed of a single block (the arm-ends fractured off but restored), 91 cm high and 15 cm thick. The ringed cross with expanded arm-ends is 70 cm in diameter, and the neck tapers in width from 33 cm at the base to 28 cm; only the stumps of the ring between the arms are original, the remainder restoration. The shaft, surmounted by a moulded but much eroded collar, is 1.78 m tall and 43 cm by 35 cm in width, the angles now broadly chamfered but probably originally showing bulbous angle-mouldings. A fracture 28 cm above the base is indicated in a late-17th century drawing (Stowe MS. 1024, fo. 23) and represents earlier damage than that recorded in 1877; immediately above this fracture on the N. and W. faces are traces of an incised horizontal edge-moulding and butt which may indicate the original length of the shaft. The portion of the shaft below the fracture does not closely conform to the main shaft in dimensions and is probably secondary. The base itself, 43 cm high, is of medieval type with moulded octagonal socket and plain faces splayed out from 62 cm to 89 cm...In its original form the cross is of 10th- to early-11th-century date, but it has been modified to conform to that of the usual late medieval churchyard cross. The lowest portion of the shaft and the pedestal base are of the 14th or 15th century'.

Westwood/1879, 33: `The shaft of the cross has the angles squared off and is divided, on its front or south side, into five panels with the Chinese-like angular pattern, and the sides with very much defaced interlaced ribbon patterns; the top of the shaft has a row of small round bosses. At the top of the west side is the name of Ebisar clearly inscribed...The top of the monument is formed of a detached stone, the base of which forms a truncated cone ornamented with interlaced ribbons, and the head itself is a wheel-cross of the Maltese form, with dilated ends to the equal-sized limbs; the centre of the cross has a raised boss, and the arms, which are ornamented with the conjoined triquetra pattern, are united by curved bars, completing the circular wheel, the bands being sunk and with the spaces between them and the arms of the cross pierced'.

Nash-Williams/1950, 130--131: `Front. The arms of the cross-head are filled with plain Stafford-knots (R.A. 262 and 269) interjoined around a small central boss. The neck below is filled with a moulded panel of six-cord double-beaded plaitwork (R.A. 565) embodying the free ring. The shaft shows vestiges of five (?) squares of swastika key-pattern (?) disposed vertically. Right. The arm-end of the cross bears a vertical twist (R.A. 501) of four lobes. The neck below shows vestiges of a vertical twist (R.A. 501) of three (?) lobes. The shaft is filled with a vertical band of six-cord plaitwork with horizontal breaks evenly disposed (? R.A. 509). Back. Decoration similar to that in front. Left. The arm-end of the cross and the neck bear vertical twists (R.A. 501) as before. At the top of the shaft, immediately below the beaded collar-moulding, is an inscription...The remainder of the shaft was apparently filled with five squares of key- or fret-pattern (mostly defaced) disposed vertically'.

RCAHMW/1973, 59: `The faces of the cross-head and shaft are decorated with carving in low relief, extensively weathered and (on the shaft) possibly re-dressed. The arms of the cross-head (Plate 25) on both E. and W. faces (the upper arm-end much eroded) have plain edge-mouldings forming panels filled with double-beaded triquetra-knots, all linked on the hub around a central bead; on the sides each panelled arm-end contains a four-lobe twist. The surviving stump of the ring has traces of edge-moulding framing possibly a row of pellets. Both E. and W. faces of the neck have a panel framed by plain edge-moulding containing double-beaded six-cord plaitwork in three regular loops; the N. and S. panels each have a three-lobe twist.

The enlarged collar at the head of the shaft, chamfered on its upper surface around the mortice, is much weathered and lacks most of its N. edge. On each face upper and lower mouldings frame a row of boldly moulded pellets or balls, one at each angle and three between them. The decoration of the shaft has been largely obliterated by weathering and by possible re-dressing of the face. On the E. face are four vertical panels framed by plain edge-moulding (the side mouldings removed by the cutting of the chamfered angles) with a blank space below them; the upper three panels show traces of diagonal key-patterns and the lowest slightly larger panel shows possible knotwork. The S. face has four panels similarly spaced containing traces of straight fret-patterns including T- frets;[3] below the panels the shaft is plain. The W. face has traces of vertical panels not aligned to the other faces but the patterns are indecipherable. The N. face has one continuous band of six-cord plaitwork with possible horizontal breaks. The remainder of the shaft below the fracture is plain, as is also the whole of the base.

[3] The reading of an inscription in two horizontal lines in the top panel (Arch. Camb., 1899, p. 164) cannot be reconciled with the evidence for the decorative pattern of frets, and was no doubt influenced by the name `Ebissar' appearing on the cross-shaft at Coychurch (No. 935)'.

Macalister/1949, 154: `This was at the top of the side of the shaft'.

Nash-Williams/1950, 131: `At the top of the shaft, immediately below the beaded collar-moulding, is an inscription (Fig. 141) in two lines reading horizontally'.

Rhys/1899, 164: `The letters are all minuscules, and the tail of the r is somewhat hard to trace'.

Macalister/1949, 154: `the inscription was nothing more than the name EBISAR written in two lines of half uncials, three letters in each line'.

Nash-Williams/1950, 131: `Round half-uncials, coarsely picked in clumsy style'.