The Gosforth Cross has elaborate carvings which have been interpreted as representing characters and scenes from Norse mythology, similarly to how the Jelling stones depict Jesus with other Norse mythological characters. Its design modeled after the cross design that originated during the Christianization of Ireland. The Gosforth Cross was first identified in 1886 by the amateur antiquarian Charles Arundel Parker in his book "The Ancient Crosses at Gosford and Cumberland". He demonstrated that the cross showed scenes described in the "Poetic Edda". Those include images identified as: