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Thornhill Description of stone
Event ID 1084201
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Early Medieval Carved Stones Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1084201
Thornhill, Nith Bridge, Dumfriesshire, cross
Measurements: H 2.74m, shaft W 0.33m-0.43m, D 0.20m
Stone type: reddish sandstone
Place of discovery: NX 86890 95471
Present location: standing in an enclosure in a field at NX 86890 95471, close to the modern road and near Nith Bridge.
Evidence for discovery: first recorded by Robert Riddell in 1793, apparently still in its original base and in its original location.
Present condition: very weathered and lacking its side-arms and much of its top arm. Face C is very damaged towards the top.
Description
A tall and once elegant cross, much detail of the carving has been lost. It is carved in relief on all four faces, outlined with a double roll moulding, and the surviving lower cross-arm has a double-cusped shape. Face A, the east face, is the best preserved and shows a large encircled rosette filling the centre of the cross-head, with 13 petals around a small central boss. Within the double moulding the shaft is divided into five panels separated by horizontal mouldings. The top panel contains a pair of confronted bipeds with entwined legs, the next panel two pairs of long-tailed bipeds, the next a pair of upright quadrupeds, next a pair of winged bipeds and finally a pair of prancing winged bipeds.
Narrow face B (the north face) is carved as one long panel with a continuous chain of interlocked animals.
Broad face C (the west face) may have had five panels of ornament but only the lower three have survived the weathering. They are separated by arched mouldings and each contains a pair of confronted and enmeshed animals.
Narrow face D (the south face) bears a single long panel of open interlace.
Riddell describes the base as stepped, but only the top is now visible.
Date: eighth or ninth century.
References: Riddell 1793, 131-3; Stuart 1856, pl 121; ECMS pt 3, 449-50; RCAHMS 1920, no 531; Craig 1992, vol 2, 12-24 (Boatford 1).
Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2019.
