Brompton’s Rare Anglo-Scandinavian Hogback Stones
- timbarber
- 12 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Recently, I did a tour for an American couple where the husband Chris had researched his ancestry back to Brompton near Northallerton. He contacted me to ask if I could collect them in York, take them around the historic city on the morning then show them a bit of the surrounding area before dropping them in Brompton where they had booked a room overnight in the local pub.
As part of his research he had found that one of his great, great, grandfather had been Christened at the Church of St.Thomas the Apostle in Brompton over 200 years ago, so he specifically wanted to see the church.
We managed to get hold of the Vicar, the Reverend Julia Staves and after explaining the situation with my guests research, she kindly agreed to open up the church to show him around and see the Norman font where his relative had been Christened.
But whilst researching the church as I had never been there, I made a fascinating discovery that the Church held one of the largest collection of Anglo Scandinavian Hogback grave covers in the North of England. This made me particularly excited for the visit/tour as it is a period in history which I am particularly interested in.
So what are hogbacks?
Basically, they are carved stones which are believed by many to have been grave markers for Scandinavian settlers to the North of England. The hogbacked carvings would sit along the grave space.
The ones at Brompton are carved out of sandstone, they are about 2 feet high and three and a half feet long. They have a curved top (rather like a hog’s back) and are usually carved with patterns seen in Scandinavian pagan art on their sides.
Some believe the hog backed shape is meant to mirror the roof of a Viking longhouse – the hall at the centre of all Viking communities. This sort of roof still exists today on “Stave Churches” in Scandinavia with animals or beasts carved at each end of the roof’s ridge and with shingle roof tiles on the roof sides.
Some also believe the shape of the hogbacks mirrors the caskets used by Christians in Saxon times for storing bones or relics of Saints but i am not convinced about this theory.
Why was the find at Brompton so significant?
During restorations to the church between 1867 and 1868, eleven of these ancient grave markers were found making it a very significant find. Not only that but the Hogbacks from Brompton were all incredibly well preserved.
For example, 3 hogbacks were found around St.Wilfred’s Church in Burnsall, but as two had been incorporated into the masonry of future iterations of that church, some are heavily weathered with much of the detail eroded over time.
The builder who had been commissioned to repair the church in Victorian times, had in his contract that he would retain possession of any remnants of the old church he found. So he was delighted with his finds from beneath the Chancel as he could make some money out of them.
News of the find spread and Canon William Greenwell of Durham, who was a great collector of early Christian carved stones rushed to the church in the hope of buying the stones from the builder. But the vicar of church had beaten him to it and had already bought the best pieces which are still displayed in the church today.
The vicar at the time didn’t have enough money to buy all of the finds, so Canon Greenwell was able to purchase the remaining six stones. These sadly were removed from their home in Brompton and were taken to Durham Cathedral where they are now on display in the Monks Dormitory.
Hog or Bear?
Whilst the ancient carved stones are named after the shape of the back of a hog or wild boar (and we know wild boar existed in the area around York as Jorvik the Viking name for York actually means “wild boar creek”), the carving of animal heads at the ends of each hogsback does not appear to resemble a pig or a boar.
Most people agree that the main animals shown are muzzled bears with their claws shown pawing the ridge of the roof. In Brompton there is one also believed to show a dragons or a serpents as well as the bears.
The reason for the bears or beasts is unsure – were they there to protect the dead or symbolise a warrior spirit?
How old are the Viking Hogbacks?
It is believed that they date back to the 10th Century. But there have been arguments between historians as to whether they are Pagan or Anglo-Saxon Christian monuments?
Some hogbacks do have Christian decoration incorporated along with Scandinavian decoration. As no hogbacks have ever been found in Scandinavia, they are seen very much as an invention of Viking English settlers.
Experts also believe that the fashion for hogbacks only lasted 50 years, hence why there are so few around. It is worth remembering that many of the Vikings who had settled in the 800’s had assimilated and converted to Christianity by the mid to late 900’s. (An Anglo-Scandinavian Christian burial site was found in Masham not so long ago).
The fact that the hog backs seem to have been found on the site of an early church dating to the 7th Century, means we can assume those buried were happy to be buried on a Christian site in a church burial ground.
The clever money seems to be on the fact that Hogbacks were a cultural mixture of traditional Anglo-Saxon stone carving traditions along with design-innovations made amongst the Scandinavian Viking settlers.
Most hog backs found in the North or England have been found in ones and twos. The fact so many were found at Brompton indicates that there was probably a “school” of carvers working in the area – was this one of Brompton’s early commercial enterprises?
On my visit it was lovely to see the locals had incorporated the hogbacks into the designs for their kneelers.
A big thanks to Reverend Staves for opening up the church and letting me see at first hand these wonderful carved stones, whatever their heritage may be! And my guests Chris and his wife were blown away by their visit and making connections to the past as well as being very grateful for the Vicars wonderful hospitality.
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