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<< Our Photo Pages >> St Bridget's Church (Brigham) - Ancient Cross in England in Cumbria

Submitted by Anne T on Saturday, 18 August 2018  Page Views: 1600

Early Medieval (Dark Age)Site Name: St Bridget's Church (Brigham)
Country: England County: Cumbria Type: Ancient Cross
Nearest Town: Cockermouth  Nearest Village: Brigham
Map Ref: NY0858030920
Latitude: 54.665037N  Longitude: 3.418881W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
 3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
 4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
 5 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
 5

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I have visited· I would like to visit

Anne T visited on 14th Aug 2018 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 5 St Bridget's, Brigham (Anglo Saxon Stones): Whilst this church looks very austere from outside, and the entrance doors dark and foreboding, once inside the church, it is a completely different picture – this church is light, airy and welcoming. The painted ceilings are fantastic. The church warden turned up as arranged, and was so welcoming. He sought out a guide to the church and old postcards for information, then left me photographing the stones whilst Andrew walked round the church with him. Time was all too short here, and I could have spent another hour, but we knew the church warden needed to get home, and the evening traffic was building up outside. In our haste, we missed Brigham 13, a cross base at the west end of the church (I thought I’d photographed it, as we went through all the AS Corpus pages I’d brought with me, but realised (too late) it wasn’t the correct stone). After looking at the Fletcher family grave (now very worn and held together with large staples, I walked over to the west end of the churchyard to look at the farmhouse, which used to be the rectory for the farm). We also looked for the site of Nun's Well, but were unable to see anything.

St Bridget's Church (Brigham)
St Bridget's Church (Brigham) submitted by Anne T : This is Brigham 05, part of a cross-head dating to the 10th century. It was first recorded in 1881, presumed to have been found in restorations of 1864 or 1875-6. Note the curly haired naked figure, with his right hand and a snake (or interlace) bound across his stomach. His left hand is described as having an open palm, lying above the interlace of the right arm. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Ancient Cross in Cumbria

St Bridgets's Church, about 100m from the busy A66, just outside the village of Brigham, dates from the late 11th century with 12th, 13th and 14th century additions, restored heavily in 1864-76, and is classed as early Norman (c1070).

The church houses 13 fragments of cross shafts, cross heads and hogback, together with other later architectural fragments, now stored on a ledge against the south wall.

Whilst the church is recorded as Pastscape Monument No. 9024 and Historic England List ID 1145196, it is also up-to-date with modern technology, and has a detailed web site; for details of the stones see St Bridget's Brigham: The Stones. Inside the church there are QR codes which you can scan in to access this link! There is also a downloadable leaflet at the bottom of their page.

Further details on the Anglo Saxon stones can also be found on the Corpus of Anglo Saxon Stone Sculpture, commencing at Brigham 01, through to Brigham 13.

The church inside is light, airy and welcoming. It has some remarkable painted/stencilled ceilings, created 150 years ago to Butterfield's designs.. Outside can be found the grave of the Fletcher family, including the father of Fletcher Christian, father of the mutineer of the Bounty.

The church guide book states that this was "one of the three great mother churches of Cumbria .... tradition has it that St Bridget's nuns founded a wooden church around 500AD on a small hill beside the (river) Derwent to serve their nunnery. All traces of this foundation vanished in the Dark Ages but an ecclesiastical presence began again as preaching crosses followed by a small Norman church."

Please note this church is kept locked during the day; please contact the church wardens to pre-arrange a visit. See 'A Church Near You' website for contact details (or details are posted on the church noticeboard by the gate).

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St Bridget's Church (Brigham)
St Bridget's Church (Brigham) submitted by Anne T : This is the reverse side of AS Corpus Brigham 12, described as possibly being from the 10th or 11th century. Both narrow faces are damaged and cut away; its broad faces are worn and decorated with median-incised strands. The Corpus says this is of medium-grained yellow sandstone, although we placed it as being red; the photos I took matched those on the Corpus record. (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Bridget's Church (Brigham)
St Bridget's Church (Brigham) submitted by Anne T : This is one side of AS Corpus Brigham 12, described as possibly being from the 10th or 11th century. Both narrow faces are damaged and cut away; its broad faces are worn and decorated with median-incised strands. The Corpus says this is of medium-grained yellow sandstone, although we placed it as being red; the photos I took matched those on the Corpus record. (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Bridget's Church (Brigham)
St Bridget's Church (Brigham) submitted by Anne T : The piece denoted by the red arrow is actually face B of AS Corpus Brigham 10, part of a hogback dating to the tenth century (being where it was, I mistook it for an architectural fragment). This side is part of the hipped gable, bordered by a roll moulding; the reverse face has a tight spiral. (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Bridget's Church (Brigham)
St Bridget's Church (Brigham) submitted by Anne T : The second half of AS Corpus Brigham 09, part of a cross base dating to the 10th century. Parts of the cross base have been recut, but parts of the crouching and sprawling animals and the six-cord interlacing are still crisply carved. (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Bridget's Church (Brigham)
St Bridget's Church (Brigham) submitted by Anne T : This is the first part of AS Corpus Brigham 09, dating to the 10th century, a cross base in two adjoining pieces. The carvings feature crouching and sprawling animals and interlacing with six-cord patterns. Still deeply cut after all this time. First recorded in 1881, found during restoration work in the 19th century. (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Bridget's Church (Brigham)
St Bridget's Church (Brigham) submitted by Anne T : This is face A of AS Corpus Brigham 08, part of cross arm dating possibly to the 10th/11th century. The roll moulding is damaged on all sides, and faces B, C and D are described as being heavily worn (I couldn't make out any ornamentation on the photos I took). The Corpus says the pattern is of simple interlacing with 'E' terminal; the strands are deeply cut.

St Bridget's Church (Brigham)
St Bridget's Church (Brigham) submitted by Anne T : This is this top arm of AS Corpus Brigham 06, part of a cross-head in two adjoining pieces. The pieces are not stored immediately next to each other, but are near each other. Dating to the 10th/11th century, it is of a hammerhead shape, which the Corpus says is "restricted to the Viking period, and its distribution has a distinctly western bias".

St Bridget's Church (Brigham)
St Bridget's Church (Brigham) submitted by Anne T : This is AS Corpus Brigham 06, part of a cross-head in two adjoining pieces. It is damaged on the lower half of this face, and the upper arm has broken away. Dating to the 10th/11th century, it is of a hammerhead shape, which the Corpus says is "restricted to the Viking period, and its distribution has a distinctly western bias".

St Bridget's Church (Brigham)
St Bridget's Church (Brigham) submitted by Anne T : If I've matched these correctly to the Corpus of Anglo Saxon Stone Sculptures, this is Brigham 04, side C, dating to the 10th/11th centuries. Part of a cross shaft made of medium grained St Bees sandstone.

St Bridget's Church (Brigham)
St Bridget's Church (Brigham) submitted by Anne T : If I've matched these correctly to the Corpus of Anglo Saxon Stone Sculptures, this is Brigham 04, side A, dating to the 10th/11th centuries. Part of a cross shaft made of medium grained St Bees sandstone.

St Bridget's Church (Brigham)
St Bridget's Church (Brigham) submitted by Anne T : If I've matched these correctly to the Corpus of Anglo Saxon Stone Sculptures, this is Brigham 04, side B, dating to the 10th/11th centuries. Part of a cross shaft made of medium grained St Bees sandstone.

St Bridget's Church (Brigham)
St Bridget's Church (Brigham) submitted by Anne T : This is part of a cross-shaft dating from the tenth century, recorded as AS Corpus Brigham 03. Only two faces - one broad and one narrow remain, the other two have been recut. Now propped in an corner between the south wall of the nave and a now empty recess tomb.

St Bridget's Church (Brigham)
St Bridget's Church (Brigham) submitted by Anne T : This is Brigham 07, dating from the 10th to 11th century. Part of a cross-head, type E10 with ring, with its right arm broken. At its centre is an encircled boss with each surviving arm filled with interlace. The back face is plain.

St Bridget's Church (Brigham)
St Bridget's Church (Brigham) submitted by Anne T : A side view of Brigham 05, face D, showing a simple knot pattern.

St Bridget's Church (Brigham)
St Bridget's Church (Brigham) submitted by Anne T : The two parts of Brigham 01, part of a cross shaft in two adjoining pieces, dating to the late eighth century. First recorded in 1957. Carving only survives on the one face of both pieces. It would have been interesting to reassemble the two pieces together, but there was little room on the ledge between the other cross fragments.

St Bridget's Church (Brigham)
St Bridget's Church (Brigham) submitted by Anne T : Face A of the Brigham 02, dating to the 10th to 11th century. Part of a cross-shaft. Recorded as having been found during restorations of 1864 or 1875-76.

St Bridget's Church (Brigham)
St Bridget's Church (Brigham) submitted by Anne T : Face C of the Brigham 02, dating to the 10th to 11th century. Part of a cross-shaft. Recorded as having been found during restorations of 1864 or 1875-76. This face, tilted away from the wall to photograph it, has an angular eight strand plait linked by a single strand to a free ring crossed by long diagonals above.

St Bridget's Church (Brigham)
St Bridget's Church (Brigham) submitted by Anne T : Face B of the Brigham 02, dating to the 10th to 11th century. Part of a cross-shaft. Recorded as having been found during restorations of 1864 or 1875-76.

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