Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 3.djvu/192

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164
ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE.

is the supposed site of the Corstopitum of Antonine's Itinerary; at any rate, the site of a Roman station, and probably that from which the materials for the crypt were obtained. He found in the walls of the tower of the church, both externally and internally, ribbed and variously sculptured stones similar to those in the crypt at Hexham, of which we engraved three examples in our former notice (vol. ii. p. 240.) A few of the largest carved stones in the tower of Corbridge have the lewis hole, like those covering the passages of the crypt. Mr. Fairless expresses an opinion that the whole of the tower is built of Roman materials, as he found carved stones in the inside of the top walls, and throughout all the stages in ascending. Since the date of our previous notice the walled-up passages of the crypt have been further explored, consequently extending their dimensions, but not so as to alter the general plan we have engraved.

Archaeological Journal, Volume 3, 0192.png

Incised slab, Hexham.

PERIOD OF GOTHIC ART.

Mr. Fairless forwarded a sketch and rubbing of the curious decorated cross here represented. It is placed in the angle formed by the side aisles of the choir and north transept of the abbey church at Hexham, and has long been popularly regarded as the tomb of Alfwald, king of Northumbria, who, according to Richard, prior of Hexham, was murdered by his uncle Sigga, A.D. 788, at a spot called Cithlechester, near the Roman wall. It is scarcely necessary to observe that this monument is not more ancient than the fourteenth century. The slab on which the cross is sculptured is 6 feet 9 inches in length, 2 feet in breadth, and 7 inches in depth: it rests on a moulded basement rising 3 feet from the ground.

Mr. Du Noyer communicated a drawing and account of the monument of the Butler family, in the Franciscan Friary at Clonmel, of which an engraving is annexed (see next page). Mr. Du Noyer observed that the camail is not usually seen of such a length in English effigies of the same period, and was probably copied from a relic of