Welcome to the blog of the Gloucestershire cross-slab survey. Cross-slabs are a class of medieval stone grave markers which are decorated with a cross motif; they are most commonly found at churches and monastic sites, although some are held in museums. The survey aims to record all surviving medieval cross-slabs across Gloucestershire, compile a gazetteer database, and publish a corpus of Gloucestershire cross-slabs.

Tuesday, 15 December 2015

Cross-slab cross head style guide

One of the wonderful things about cross-slabs is the sheer variety of types of cross that adorn these stone slabs. It can however be more than a bit confusing as there are a huge range of individual designs, based on a number of simple forms, all with a bewildering set of names. 

To help in the recording of these slabs I've redrawn Peter Ryder's cross-head design figure from his 'The Medieval Cross Slab Grave Cover in County Durham', a fantastic book which is available from the Architectural and Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland. This figure gives a good introduction to the basic forms of cross, as well as showing how we describe the different aspects of each design through a combination of terms.


 If anyone would like a copy of the crib, then please email and I'll send a pdf through.

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