Abingdon Museum (no accession number)

Discovered in 1927 by E. A. G. Lamborn in garden wall (c. 1840) of The Square House, Abingdon; donated to museum when house demolished in 1934

No Dedication

Broken and chipped

The lower edge of the fragment is horizontally dressed, and the left- and right-hand edges vertically dressed. The upper edge is formed by the arc of a circle.

A (broad): Along the upper edge is a broad, plain, raised border. To the left is a large interlace triquetra, broad end uppermost, the strands are median-incised, and the tip of the lower element is lost. To its left a half-round moulding rises from the lower edge sloping to the left, and a similar moulding slopes upwards to the right before bending sharply downwards to run parallel to the border a short distance from it.

C (broad): In the lower right-hand corner is a prominent reversed L-shaped moulding of square section. Above and to the left of its lower element is a narrow rectangular slot.

The decoration can be reconstructed as a cross with a triquetra in each of the re-entrant angles (Fig. 36). The piece is normally interpreted as part of a disc-shaped cross-head, but this is unlikely as there is no trace of decoration on face C. Instead there is elaborate keying as if the roundel had formed part of a larger composite feature or structure. It is unlikely that the keying is secondary as it would have involved the skilful cutting back and re-shaping of the entire face removing all trace of any pre-existing decoration. In addition the piece is very large for a disc head, with a reconstructed diameter of over 100 cm.If it is not a cross-head, then the piece may have served an architectural function, perhaps as a decorative roundel. Two similar, but smaller, roundels survive at Edenham, Lincolnshire, where they form part of the string-course in the south wall of the nave. They are ornamented with foliage not interlace, but, as at Abingdon the decoration is arranged in a cruciform shape (Taylor and Taylor 1965–78, i, 227, ii, pl. 459; Taylor and Taylor 1966, 35).

Tenth to eleventh century

Lamborn 1935, 58 - 9, figs. 1 - 4; Lamborn 1937, 122; Tweddle 1986b, i, 86, 186 - 7, ii, 346 - 7, iii, pl. 16;