BGCP_03

Cross

Site co-ordinates: 44.50/26.70

3D model here

The sandstone (?) cross-slab is 1.75 m long (E–W) and up to 0.55 m wide. It has a straight northern side, but its southern side curves NE to a point at its eastern end. There is a prominent notch at its NE corner, suggesting that it has been damaged at some point in its history. It has an irregular convex western end.

The slab lies 1.5 m east of the eastern end of the Old Kirk’s eastern wall, on the south side of the gravel path leading to the church’s entrance, and it is flanked on its north side by slab BGCP_xx which is partly buried in the path.The stone has been heavily worn, and has a mainly smooth upper surface, with only a faint trace of its decoration still visible. This comprises a Roman cross with slightly expanded arms carved in relief. The relief is deepest at the junctions of the arms, but the full extent of only the northern (right) arm remains visible, with the ends of the other arms completely worn away.

Fisher (1996) describes this slab as an ‘?equal arm cross’, and the 2012 RCAHMS ink drawing (see here) shows a clear terminal to its slightly longer eastern (bottom) arm. However, no trace of this terminal is indicated either in the 2014 RCAHMS photograph, or by the present photogrammetry, and given the interpretative nature of the drawing a shafted cross cannot be ruled out. There are other crosses in the cemetery bearing crosses of similar scale and execution and while some appear to be shafted (eg, BGCP_32 and BGCP_44) equal-arm crosses are less easy to identify with certainty.

For further information on sources see BGCP Bibliographic References after the last entry.