The Saxon history of the county has been under extra scrutiny since the discovery of the Staffordshire Hoard.
But there is already a fair bit of Saxon-era stuff to be seen, though most of it is largely ignored really and a bit mysterious.
In the Church of St Leonard in Ipstones, two hundred years ago, some builders found this sculpted relief under some plaster. The relief was in the archway of a door - the technical term for that is that it is a tympanum; and so the piece is known as The Ipstones Tympanum.
It is about 1000 years old, and clearly uses saxon art-motifs.
It shows dragons fighting. Nobody really knows much more than that about it.
Wow, that is old, and fascinating too Mark.
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