Interior. Detail showing cross shaft.

Description Interior. Detail showing cross shaft.

Date 13/5/1999

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number D 46618 CN

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies G 83788 CS, SC 449873

Scope and Content Fragment of cross at Abercorn, West Lothian Nothing survives of the Anglian monastery at Abercorn. It was the seat of a short-lived bishopric which had jurisdiction in Pictland before 685 AD. According to Bede, its bishops and monks fled to Whitby after the Pictish victory at Nechtansmere (685 AD). This fragment of a free-standing cross, found at Abercorn, is decorated with geometrical and interlace patterns. This fragment is part of the cross-shaft and it would have been surmounted by a small cross of four equal arms. Decorative sculpture, figures, and 'tree of life' vine-scroll patterns were introduced to the Northumbrian monasteries by continental architects and masons in the late 7th century. Stone crosses such as this one were probably sculpted in the 8th century. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Medium Colour negative

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