A 14-foot Anglo-Saxon pillar with rare southern continental Baroque decoration

The Wolverhampton Pillar is a 14-foot high shaft of an Anglo-Saxon High cross dating from the ninth or tenth centuries AD. It stands in its original location in the churchyard of St Peter's Collegiate Church in Wolverhampton. The pillar features an extremely rare type of decoration that has survived weathering well, consisting of seven bands depicting vine scrolls, various animals, acanthus, and lattice-work.

Scholar Kendrick considered the decoration unique as the only surviving example in England demonstrating the southern continental Baroque style. He described it as a crowded display of finicky decoration, a style also reflected in the later Stapleford Cross. While the carving is Anglo-Saxon, the exact date is uncertain, though it may have been carved and erected around 850 AD or around 996 AD when a college was founded at the site.

Phyllis Nicklin of the University of Birmingham notes that the shaft is similar in size to the columns of the forum at the Roman city of Viriconium near Wroxeter. She speculates that the Anglian carvers may have taken the shaft from there, which would mean the stone was quarried between 100 and 150 AD. A plaster cast of the Pillar was created for the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1877.

An excavation in 1949 revealed that the pillar is still standing on its original Saxon foundation. This consists of a stepped base approximately 2.4m in diameter, located one metre below the present ground level. At some later date, the base of the pillar was propped up with mortared rubble.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons