ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE.

259 place of Mr. Harker of Theakstone, is now in the possession of that gentle- man : the side is rudely sculptured with foliage, the gahled-end heing plain. The other is now placed on the stone altar, in the crypt beneath the choir of Bedale church : jdthough much defaced, it surpasses the former in the character of decoration. On the end, as it has been supposed, was pour- trayed the Temptation in Eden ; on one side, the Saviour crucified ; on the other two serpents interwoven, biting their tails, and a demi-lion recum- bent. This kind of ornament, which may be noticed in many of our earlier monuments, is accounted by the northern antiquaries as appropriate to tlic period, termed by them, the iron age, and characterized, amongst arious peculiarities, by these " Schlangenzierathen," and " Drachenzierathen," snake, and dragon ornamentations^. In the churchyard at Bedale there are two fragments of a cross sculptured with knot- work ; of the larger a represen- tation is given on the next] page. Several ancient ornamented stones e.xisted there, which have been destroyed in rubbing floors and entrance-steps ; this, for- tunately, proved of too hard a quality to be thus employed. In the churchyard at Hawks- well, five miles distant from Richmond, there is the shaft of another scul^itured cross of small dimensions, 5^ ft. in height, and apparently the per- fect cross measured not more than 6 ft. In the pavement, within the altar rails, may be noticed a fragment of early sculpture, representing a ser- pent, with rude foliage, resem- bling the ornaments of one of the three sculptured crosses at Gainford, to which public atten- tion has recently been called by Mr. Walbranf. -<-n l._^._: ^^ ._ji^^. In the tower of AyclifTe Kawksweii cross. church, near Darlington, Durham, two interesting crosses may be seen. Surtees conjectured that they had been erected in memorial of ecclesias- tical synods, there holden, A.D. 782, and 789. The base of the cross here »■ See his History of Gainford, where ^ Leitfaileii zur Nordisclieu AUertluun- skuude, Kopent. 1837; p. 63. representations are given.