Acknowledgements
Firstly, I would like to thank my friends and great champions Diana Cashin and Dr Eric Kentley who have accompanied me on many of my fieldtrips in pursuit of the sculptures which are the subject of this book and widespread from south-west Scotland to the tip of Cornwall. They have also been instrumental in the preparation and the successful completion of this book: for feedback on the text, Eric for image research and Diana for general support. Thanks are also due to my ever-patient editor Marcella Mulder. Saying this makes me realise that books are in many respects a team effort.
The subject of this book has been a labour for me of over 50 years and this book would not have been possible without the generous support and previous work of scholars, in particular all the contributors to the Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture, the magnum opus which was conceived by Professor Rosemary Cramp, who also started me on this path.
I am also grateful for the generosity of Professor Sarah Semple and Dr Derek Craig, both of the Department of Archaeology at Durham University, in allowing so many images from the Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture to be reproduced here. Considerable thanks are also due to Professor Richard Bailey of the University of Newcastle and the late Professor Éamonn Ó Carragáin of University College Cork for their consistent long-term support.
My thanks to the Vice Chancellor Sir Kenneth Green of Manchester Metropolitan University who supported this project, including the use of university car and chauffeur, the late Colin Crine, for some of my early trips.
Last but not least, I would like to thank all the people who opened up their churches and other buildings so willingly to me, and who continue to take such care of our inheritance.