This is the Hedda Stone or Monks Stone (8th century Saxon carving from the original church)
Text from: Handbook to the Cathedrals of England
by Richard John King

This was long supposed to be the stone erected by Godric, Abbot of Crowland, over the monks of Medeshamstede (the ancient name of Peterborough), who, with their abbot, Hedda, were slaughtered by the Danes in 870. They had already destroyed Crowland, and were assaulting Medeshamstede, when the brother of the Danish Jarl, Hubba, was killed by a stone thrown from the walls. In revenge, after an entrance had been forced, the Jarl, with his own hand, slew the Abbot and all the surviving monks. The abbey was plundered and burnt. After the Danes had left the country, a few of the Crowland monks returned to their ruined monastery, and chose Godric for their abbot. Having arranged his own community as far as possible, he visited Medeshamstede, where he collected the mangled bodies of the monks — eighty-four in number, says the pseudo-Ingulphus — and interred them in one large grave, over which he raised "a pyramidal stone, •three feet high, three feet long, and one foot broad, on which were cut the images of the deceased abbot and his monks." Every remaining year of his life, it is said, Godric paid a visit to this stone, and pitched a tent over it, in which he said masses p86during two days, for the repose of those buried beneath.

This story, it should be remarked, rests solely on the spurious narrative of Ingulphus, the Chronicler of Crowland; and although the tomb agrees very closely with the measurements given above, it was demonstrated by Mr. M. H. Bloxham, at the meeting of the Archaeological Institute at Peterborough in 1861, that it is work of the early part of the twelfth century. It is a mass either of Purbeck, or of a somewhat similar marble, full of minute shells. Large holes have been bored in it, three on one side, and two on the other, probably for the purpose of fixing candlesticks. On either of the upright sides are six much-worn figures, the details of which it is very difficult to distinguish. All have the nimbus — a plain circular beading round the heads of all, except one of the figures on the east side, which has the cruciform nimbus distinctive of our Lord, indicated by double lines proceeding from the head to the exterior beading. The hair of a figure on the west side is arrayed in rays, or semicircles. The dress of all is alike — a long robe with a shorter sleeved vestment over it. The emblems they carry seem to vary: most have books; some bear palm-branches. All are under a circular arcade, with a kind of double leaf-ornament springing from the intersections. The sloping top of the stone is divided into four partitions, with rude sculpture of leafage and birds, one of which may perhaps represent a peacock, a favourite emblem of the Resurrection. Circles and knots p87of intersected lines mark the early character of the whole work. The two ends are plain, except that on the south side the date 870 has been carved in modern Arabic numerals.
This monument at all events deserves the most careful attention. The figures are in all probability those of the Saviour and His Apostles, who are usually represented as carrying books; although the dress is that of the twelfth century. It is not impossible, however, that the monument (which may in reality be that of an early abbot) is the actual stone described by Ingulphus, whose narrative has been proved to be a composition of much later date.