First in interest and importance is that known as the Monks' Stone, now preserved in the new building. It is generally thought that this was constructed in commemoration of the massacre of Abbot Hedda and his monks in 870, by the Danes. It was not till nearly a century later that any attempt was made to rebuild the monastery. But Mr Bloxam read a paper at Peterborough in 1861 in which he disputed the authenticity of this monument, which had been previously regarded as one of the most ancient monumental stones extant. He pronounced it to be Norman, and not Saxon work, and some centuries later in date than the massacre of the monks. He considered the figures did not represent the slain monks and their abbot, but Christ and eleven disciples. It has been further conjectured by Bishop Westcott that it may have been part of the shrine erected over the relics of S. Kyneburga, when they were removed from Castor to Peterborough in the former half of the eleventh century. A fragment of sculpture in the same style is built into the west wall of the south transept. Even if the latter years of the ninth century are deemed too early a date for the stone, at any rate the style of the sculpture and ornamentation seems much earlier than anything we can now see in position in the building itself. May it not have been erected when the minster was reconstructed at the end of the tenth century? It was formerly in the churchyard; sometimes testators (like Dr Pocklington) desired in their wills that they might be interred near it. It has been usually stated that the stone was erected by Abbot Godric of Crowland, who died in 941. Unvarying tradition has associated it with the Danish massacre; its dimensions almost exactly agree with the earliest records of the stone said to have been so erected. The cruciform nimbus round the head of one figure leaves no doubt that it was designed for the Saviour; but this had been recognised many years before Mr Bloxam wrote. [Illustration: Part of the Monks' Stone.] In the north transept, below the level of the floor, and protected by wooden doors, are several richly ornamented slabs or coffin lids, of undoubted Saxon date; and they form a series which may be considered one of the very best in England. They are in their original position, the spot on which they lie being outside the Saxon church and they were then in the grave-yard. They were discovered in 1888. The interlacing work, and other carvings, are deeply cut and in excellent preservation. [Illustration: Saxon Coffin Lids in North Transept.]