[Footnote 1:  Browne, Rt.  Rev. G.F.:  “The Conversion of the Heptarchy,” p. 151.]

There are several other pre-Norman sculptured stones at Kirkdale.  They are generally built into the walls on the exterior, and are not very apparent unless carefully looked for.  In the vestry some fragments of stone bearing interlaced ornament are preserved.

Not only at Kirkdale are these pre-Norman stones built into walls that appear to belong to a date prior to the Conquest, but also at Middleton there is a fine cross forming part of the fabric of the church tower.  The west doorway now blocked up is generally considered to be of Saxon work, but the quoins of the tower, though bearing much resemblance to the pure “long and short” work that may be seen at Bradford-on-Avon, are composed of stones that are almost equal in height.

[Illustration:  Cross Slab inserted in West Wall of Kirkdale Church.

The runes which gave rise to the belief that this was the gravestone of King AEthelwald have perished.

Slab with Interlaced Ornament at Kirkdale Church.

(Both crosses are from the Associated Architectural Societies’ Reports.) ]

The Rev. Reginald Caley has suggested that the original Saxon tower of Brompton church may have been incorporated into the present structure whose walls are of unusual thickness, the stone work in some places showing characteristics of pre-Norman workmanship.  At Ellerburne the curious spiral ornaments of the responds of the chancel arch have also been attributed to pre-Norman times, but in this case and possibly at Middleton also, the Saxon features may have appeared in Norman buildings owing to the employment of Saxon workmen, who did not necessarily for several years entirely abandon their own methods, despite the fact that they might be working under Norman masters.  There is a very roughly hewn font in the little chapel of Ease, in the village of Levisham.  It bears a cross and a rope ornamentation, and may possibly be of pre-Norman origin, although it was being used as a cattle trough in a neighbouring farmyard before the restoration in 1884.  The parish church of Levisham, standing alone in the valley below the village, has a very narrow and unadorned chancel arch.  This may possibly belong to Saxon or very early Norman times, but Mr Joseph Morris[1] has pointed out that a similar one occurs at Scawton, which is known to have been built in 1146, and the evidence of a Saxon stone built into the south-east corner of the chancel of Levisham church supports my belief in the later date.  On the south wall of the chancel of Lockton church I have seen a roughly shaped oblong stone bearing in one corner the markings of a very rude sundial, and I find that there is another on the wall of a cottage in the same village.[2] I am unable to give its position, but from a drawing I have examined, it appears to be of more careful workmanship than the one built into the church wall.