The upper curve of the vine-scroll encloses a flower. Beneath it two birds and three beasts inhabit five of its curling tendrils.
The lowest section of the vine-scroll has been badly damaged. The tails of two of the hybrid beasts intertwine with the stems of
the scroll and end in leaf-like shapes that suggest a union of beast and scroll that may be meant to further their symbolic evocation
of the union of the faithful with Christ in the eucharist, and of the words of Christ ‘I am the vine; you the branches: he that abideth
in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit’ (John 15:5). If anything was carved on the base of this side of the stone it has been
worn away.
The runic inscription is in the Old English language. It reads: (across the top) [+ ond]gere; (down the right side) dæ hinæ god
almeittig · þa hewalde on galgu gistigamodig f[ore] [allæ] men [b]ug … [ahof] ic riicnæ kyniŋc · heafunæs hlafard hælda ic ni dorstæ
[b]ismærædu uŋket men ba æt[g]ad[re i]c [wæs] miþ blodi bist[e]mi[d] bi[got][en of þæs gumu sida]… Translation: ‘Almighty God stripped
himself when he wished to mount the gallows, brave in the sight of all men. I dared not bow. I [raised aloft] a powerful king. The Lord
of heaven I dared not tilt. Men insulted the pair of us together. I was drenched with blood [begotten from that man’s side].
