It is obvious that the horizontal arms of a basket-work cross must require some extraneous aid to enable them to retain that position even for a short time. For this purpose the ring seemed to me to have been adopted; but I was quite unable to discover the manner in which it was applied, until on application to a practical basket-maker I was at once told that he could not construct a cross of willows without the ring, which he must make first, and then work the cross upon it. That such was its use is confirmed by the arrangement of some of the rude crosses in the Isle of Man. On the sculptured stone in the church-yard of Kirk Michael[28] is a cross of interlaced work without any ring; but to compensate for its absence another contrivance has been adopted. The horizontal arms are sustained by a series of plaited twigs hung over the top of the upper limb, and interwoven with the arms. On the reverse of the same stone[28] the cross has a ring composed of one thick and two slender stems, which last appear to pass through and fasten together the limbs and the ring by a curious and ingenious knot. Another example of a similar fastening may be observed on the fragment of stone also at Kirk Michael[29] sculptured with a rude representation of the crucifixion. These knots are doubtless the origin of the richly ornamented bosses often covered with basket-work, so frequently met with in exactly the same positions on the Irish and Scottish crosses.
Some of the human figures sculptured on the Scottish and Manx stones, are so executed as to suggest that they also are reproductions from originals formed of twigs. This is particularly the case with a fragment at Forteviot,[30] the ancient Celtic capital of Scotland, on which four men, some animals and a cross are carved with curious rudeness; and with a portion of another crucifixion from the Isle of Man.[31] Both of these have a considerable resemblance to the rustic work of rough twigs with which many gardeners of the present day delight to ornament their summer houses and garden seats. These examples suggest a common origin with the extraordinary illuminations which Mr. Westwood has reproduced from ancient manuscripts, particularly with those engraved in the _Journal of the Archæological Institute_,[32] it being remembered that the sculpture and the illuminations were both probably enriched with colour and gilding.