Monkwearmouth, Anglo-Saxon animal-head terminal

Animal-head terminal, 30 cm high x 31 cm wide x 18 cm deep, in medium-grained massive yellow sandstone. Unworn and well dressed; broken off at the neck. The animal head is three-dimensional, of mammal/reptile type, with short square snout, long slit mouth, lentoid eyes, and with a deeply carved collar round its neck. It was probably meant to be seen in an upright position, perhaps the tip of a column-like feature. Dated to the 8th century it was found in 1969 in the founds of a modern wall grounded on a medieval and Saxon wall-line.