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1823: ‘Mr. Hutchinson [1776] … says (p.107) “In the Market-place on the front of an old house, are three coats of armour (arms) in plaster work: opinions are various what they denominate: the most probable is that the dexter arms are those of the Dean and Chapter of York; the centre, the cross of St. Andrew; and the sinister one, being one of the arma cantantia or rebuses, anciently adopted, comprehends the name of some churchman. Beneath this is a legend divided into three portions, which I read MA- NE- RIA, perhaps importing the manor house, and probably was the mansion of, some. of the Archbishops of York.” The S may signify Slingsby, or the name of some other Keeper of Tynedale, of whose office the cross keys may have been the badge, and the cross his coat armorial. [Wright fn.7 pp110–1]
For years the stone was displayed below the right gable on the front of the Old White Horse Inn on the east side of the Market Place adjacent to the Moot Hall. When the Inn was replaced in 1858, the stone was placed inside the pharmacy of Bell and Riddle. In 1984 the replacement building was internally destroyed by fire and the stone believed lost. In fact, though very badly damaged, it had been saved by the owner of the building, Mr Robert Bowman, and used as an ornament in his rock garden near Carlisle. After Mr Bowman's death, his family most generously returned the stone to the Abbey in 2018 and covered the cost of its conservation, 2021–22.
The stone can be seen on the back wall in the 1910 view of the shop interior.
March 2022: on display in Mercers' Gallery following conservation by David Edwick.