Dark Age stonemasons could produce very beautiful carvings. The British often carved big stone crosses. The Picts carved 'symbol stones'. Some of the best Saxon carvings to have survived can be seen in the church at Breedon-on-the-Hill in Leicestershire. It was originally a Saxon monastery and when it was rebuilt in Medieval times, the builders kept the old carvings to decorate the walls inside. On the old Saxon church, they would have decorated both the inside and outside. They would have been brightly painted too.

Dumbbell Pattern

Key Pattern

Scrollwork Bush and Birds eating Fruit

Scrollwork, Griffins & Winged Centaur

Fighting Creatures: What are they?

St. Mary the Virgin

Saxon Saints

The Angel:
This is the best carving. The style shows that the carvers may have come all the way from Byzantium (Greece). It would have been very expensive.