- Chapter Thirty-Seven -
is evident in the tendency of the lettering to run together. One formula found
particularly on recumbent grave slabs in south-west Wales (Dyfed) as well as Ireland
is CRUX XRI (Cross of Christ). On later freestanding crosses, panels of horizontal
text appear. Many stones in Ireland and Scotland bear inscriptions in Irish recording
the person's name, and a request for a prayer for his soul - the irregularity and
arrangement often indicating their hasty addition to previously prepared stones.
An inscription in Greek uncials, on the slab from Fahan Mura, Co. Donegal, is
probably copied off a Greek manuscript, and illustrates the influence of continental
contact on sculpture.
Schools of Sculpture
For an understanding of the creation of such monuments, we are reliant on exami-
nation of their technical and design construction. For the early stones, natural
boulders were modified to varying degrees. Some are unhewn pillar stones, and many
are cut on a dressed and prepared face, though in areas such as Wales Roman material
was occasionally reused.^24 Few early stones show evidence for being dressed to a
regular shape, but later cross-incised slabs show greater preparation of the stone.
The appearance of elaborate large freestanding monuments with locations centred
on postulated or proven early ecclesiastical centres suggests that workshops or
schools of craftsmen had been established by the ninth century (Figure 37.8).
To judge from the characteristics of the various regional styles and their localised
distribution, such workshops were under primary patronage of the church. For
example, the crosses at Penmon and Dyserth (Gwynedd) and at Whitford (Clwyd)
share characteristics of the Chester school of sculpture, as well as iconography and
abstract ornament which is paralleled in the Barrow valley in Ireland, illustrating
a fusion of multicultural influences. In Cornwall the ecclesiastical sites at St Buryan
near Lands End, and St Petroc, Bodmin, are thought to have had schools of sculpture
attached to them, as are the south Welsh monasteries. Early groups in the Irish
Midlands, dated to the late eighth or early ninth century, centre on Clonmacnois and
Ahenny/Kilkieran, and display an emphasis on Insular ornament.
At least two individuals would be associated with the creation of a monument
- an instigator (patron, dedicant) and an executor (artist, craftsman), both having
a role in determining the type of monument and form of inscription or ornament. It
is not always possible to state with certainty whether the choice of a particular
motif was up to date, or a revival. Some craftsmen may have been catering for a
local taste influenced by external styles, others may have been working under external
influences brought in by travelling craftsmen. Some sculptors may have been working
within external (Northumbrian, Scandinavian) traditions, or within a local fashion
for art-styles and ideas from abroad. Decorative patterns could also have been
copied or borrowed and modified from illuminated manuscripts and portable works
of art travelling between monastic houses. On the later Welsh monuments, one
finds examples of plant-scroll (vine-scroll) patterns favoured by the Northumbrian
Anglo-Saxons, and twin beasts, animals and birds found on sculpture from Mercia
and Northumbria. Constructional grids were used (sometimes horizontal, sometimes
diagonal) for the laying out of abstract ornament. Complex key-and fretpatterns and
interlace (in the form of plaitwork and knotwork) have parallels in Ireland, and