Closeburn 1 Description of stone
Event ID 1083827
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Early Medieval Carved Stones Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1083827
Closeburn 1, Dumfriesshire, cross-shaft fragment
Measurements: H 1.08m, W 0.37m tapering upwards to 0.33m, D 0.22m tapering up to 0.17m
Stone type: white sandstone.
Place of discovery: NX 90375 92318
Present location: Dumfries Museum (1960/12/4).
Evidence for discovery: ECMS implies that the stone came from Closeburn churchyard and by the 1880s it had been taken to the Grierson Museum at Thornhill to stand in the grounds in a new base. It was transferred to Dumfries Museum in 1960 when the Grierson collection was dispersed.
Present condition: only the upper part of the shaft and a small part of the lower arm of the cross-head survive, and the carving is very worn.
Description
This fragment belonged to a cross with a substantial shaft, all four faces of which are carved in relief. A double moulding runs down the sides of each face, and the panels of ornament are separated the flat-band mouldings. Two panels and part of a third panel are visible on face A, all three dominated by human figures, although little detail can be seen. The central panel shows a frontal robed figure with foliage on either side. Face B has a long panel of interlace. Face C has panels of animal ornament, surrounded by bands of two-cord twist. The top panel contains an animal splayed across it diagonally, above a panel occupied by a tall animal facing left, while the lower panel shows two birds, one above the other, each pecking the other’s tail feathers. Face D is carved with a single long panel of spiral vine-scroll, inhabited by birds in profile.
Date: ninth century.
References: ECMS pt 3, 436-7; Craig 1992, vol 2, 28-36.
Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2019
