Cross 131[103] Sandulf's Cross
Sandulf's Cross 131[103]
Mrs Richard's illustrations of Sandulf's cross-slab are a zoological delight. Listed in Camden's Britannia, it is also mentioned by William Kinnebrook in 1841 and stood in the churchyard of Andreas parish church. In 1886 it was removed to the shelter of the church.
A runic inscription which is cut into the edge of the stone records that SANDULF THE BLACK ERECTED THIS CROSS TO THE MEMORY OF ARINBJORG HIS WIFE.
Just look at those animals! Mrs Richard's describes the cross thus -
"This cross stands six feet four inches in height by fifteen to seventeen wide, and from four and a half to five and a half inches thick. Each face bears a long-shafted Celtic cross without a circle. The centre is a regular plait of five.
On the first side, above each arm, is a bird; on the right is a cock, on the left either a hen or a dove. The spaces at each side of the cross are filled with various beasts, their feet towards the shaft and their heads towards the head of the cross. On the left can be seen a stag, chased by a dog, then a man on horseback armed with a club or spear. Then follow two rings interlaced, a boar and a long-horned ox. On the right is a goat, a wolf, a hound and a hind, and lastly a bear.
The second side has a similar cross with a plain head and two concentric circles in the centre. The shaft has a plain border and the centre is a ring chain ending at the top with a small Latin cross. Aove the right arm is the figure of a cock and on the left, possibly a raven. Down the left of the shaft is a stag, a knotted serpent, a wolf, a bear, a second wolf and possibly a third wolf, or perhaps a dog. On the right side of the shaft, a goat, a square looped ring, a ram, a knotted serpent, an ox and a boar. All the animals stand facing the cross. Below the shaft is a figure on horseback and at the extreme base, a hound".
It is possible that some of the animals which Sandulf depicted might have been intended as symbolic of features in Norse mythology. On the other hand, they may have been purely decorative, and, if this were the case, they succeed admirably. Look again at the illustrations and enjoy them.