Beckermet – the carved stones
In Beckermet St John church there is a fine collection of Viking carved stones. These were found in the rebuilding of the church in 1878/9 and are among the finest carved stones in the country. They are all basically of Anglian date, in the 10th and 11th centuries, and all show Viking influence. At the time, the Isle of Man which is visible from the coast of Cumberland, was the site of a powerful Viking Kingdom and it is often suspected that the Vikings from the Isle of Man also settled on the West coast of Cumberland — for which the carved stones provide some of the best evidence..
.Of the Viking stones, those from Beckermet perhaps offer a fine collection, second only to the high crosses at Bewcastle and Gosforth. In the fine corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture, Rosemary Cramp and Richard Bailey identify a Beckermet School of stone carvers. differing from the main group. It is worth therefore examining the stones in some detail to see precisely what makes up this Beckermet school
This is number 7 in the Corpus, and is the base for a cross which would have been slotted into the top. But it is a good example of the Beckermet style interlace, with the plaits starting bottom left going up to the top and then sweeping down to the bottom again and then zigzagging back up. The description calls it a six strand plain plait with links to the remains of a single register of simple pattern E along the narrow edge of the socket hole.
Slab 3 is the nearest to being a complete cross shaft. It would originally have stood upright – note the undecorated end to the left where it would have been set into a socket or into the ground. Unfortunately it has been split into two but it is a good example of interlace. Note the holes drilled into it at the intercept of knots. It is dated like most of the others to the 10th or 11th centuries
This is a slab 5, and the decoration can be divided into two halves. On the left is a fine example of the Beckermet style interlace but to the right where we see an incoherent mass of interlace from which emerge two of the famous Viking beasts with ovoid eyes wide open mouths and protruding tongues. These are in the Viking Jellinge style which helps date them to the 10th or 11th centuries.
Slab 4 in the Corpus is again divided visually into two halves. To the right is a ring-knot, tied together at the centre with double tie, and with the end of the main strands curling round. At the left-hand end there is some more classic Beckermet style interlace. But note in the centre there is another of the fierce biting beasties with his ovoid eyes wide open and tongue lolling out, licking the ring-knot.
We then come to two stones standing in the porch which are in a different style. This is the so called ‘spiral scroll school’ which is the most popular style on the coastal plain and it is interesting to see how different it is from the Beckermet school.
This is stone number 2 in the Corpus and well illustrates the spiral scroll school. It shows a central stem with branching sideshoots which presents a series of squares which are filled with a key pattern
Finally we come onto slab number 1, which is the only one which shows not only the cross shaft but also the cross-head which is separated from the shaft by what the authors call ‘circular armpits’. At the top is a circular head pattern showing a boss at the centre and the arms of a cross. Below is a somewhat confusing interlace pattern.
Finally there is this somewhat crude slab, number eight in the corpus. Was it perhaps unfinished? Only one side carries ornament, the rest having been cut back to form part of a mediaeval window
There are also some other carved stones preserved in the church which are not included in the Corpus, and are therefore not considered to be of the Viking/Anglian period. Are they medieval grave covers?
This is one of the typical late slabs showing a sword lying beside what may be an elaborate cross on a rod — or is it possibly a tree?
Here is another sword next door to a cross. However note that the top of the sword appears to be in the form of a fist which is about to punch a small cartoon figure of a face. Or am I imagining things? (Double click to enlarge image)
Another sword next door to a rod — or is this a mirror? It might be a mirror if this was in a Pictish area.
Finally another sword, in this case adjacent to a rod with four circles on top: is this some form of standard?
Finally, the centre of this slab is occupied by a large cross with lines radiating from it. Or is this meant to be a tree upside down?
There another church at Beckermet out in the countryside dedicated to St Bridget, known as the Low Church. This has two remarkable inscribed stones still standing outside in the churchyard where presumably they have always been: should they be moved inside the church? One of these has a long runic inscription on it but unfortunately I did not visit the Low church on this visit so I did not photograph it, but I attach the Lysons drawing, courtesy of Wikipedia.
I did however visit another neighbouring church at Gosforth where there is a remarkable high cross. Unfortunately it was in the late in the evening, so I could not photograph it properly, but this picture does perhaps give some idea of it. It is amazing that such a tall thin cross should remain standing after so many centuries.
At the base there are some figurative scenes shown here.