Tyne and Wear HER(416): Monkwearmouth Church, medieval amphisboena - Details
416
Sunderland
Monkwearmouth Church, medieval amphisboena
Monkwearmouth
NZ45NW
Architecture
Architectural Fragment
Architectural Fragment
Medieval
Find
Medieval amphisboena in local sandstone, measuring about 20 inches by 18. Originally part of a larger piece of sculpture, it is described as a winged creature with a dragon-shaped body, a large head and well-defined teeth. A smaller head at the end of its tail is biting what appears to be a staff or shaft of a spear.
402
578
NZ402578
<< HER 416 >> J. Stuart, 1867, Sculptured Stones of Scotland, Vol. II, p. 65, pl. cxv.1
J.R. Boyle, 1886, On the monastery and church of St. Peter, Monkwearmouth, Archaeologia Aeliana, 2, XI, 51 and fig.
J.R.Boyle, 1892, The County of Durham, 544
B. Colgrave, 1948, St. Peter's Church, Monkwearmouth, Transactions Architectectural & Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland, X (for 1944-53), 194
D.R.Fyson, 1956, Northern Dragons, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, 5, I (for 1951-56), 242-3
R.J. Cramp, 1984, Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture, Vol. I, Pt 1 Appendix C, 155 (Monkwearmouth 33)
J.J. Wilkinson, 1939, The Monkwearmouth Amphisboena, Antiquities of Sunderland, XIX (for 1929-32), 12 and frontispiece