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Kirkcolm Description of stone
Event ID 1084097
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Early Medieval Carved Stones Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1084097
Kirkcolm (Kilmorie), Wigtownshire, cross-slab
Measurements: H I.70+, W 0.58m tapering to 0.48m, D 0.24m
Stone type: greywacke
Place of discovery: NX 0339 6583
Evidence for discovery: known at Kilmorie Chapel prior to 1719, when it was taken to Kirkcolm and used as a lintel in the restored church (NX 0306 6885). Kirkcolm church was dismantled in 1821, and the stone was first left in the kirkyard and later taken to the garden of Corsewall House (NSA 1845, 111). In 1987 it was transferred to the modern Kirkcolm parish church and set in a new base on the south-east side of the church.
Present location: at Kirkcolm Church (NX 0271 6869).
Present condition: worn but remarkably good given its history.
Description:
This massive slab is carved in relief on face A and incision on face C. There is an ornate hammer-headed cross on face A, bordered by a roll moulding and filled with scroll work, with a sunken roundel at the centre. The cross stands on a rectangular panel, itself bordered by a roll moulding, which contains four different serpentine creatures, their bodies forming interlaced patterns.
The undulating surface of face C is incised with another hammer-headed cross with an inner incised outline, and on the cross is a crucified and clothed figure. The feet stand on the head of a robed figure below, in frontal pose, flanked on the left by two birds in profile and on the right by a rectangular object and a pair of tongs. Both human figures have carefully depicted hands with prominent thumbs.
Date: ninth or tenth century.
Primary references: NSA 1845, 111; Craig 1992, vol 3, 92-102, vol 4, pls 122-4.
Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2019.
