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Stob Cross, Markinch
Cross Slab (Early Medieval)
Site Name Stob Cross, Markinch
Classification Cross Slab (Early Medieval)
Canmore ID 29950
Site Number NO20SE 12
NGR NO 2960 0220
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/29950
- Council Fife
- Parish Markinch
- Former Region Fife
- Former District Kirkcaldy
- Former County Fife
Stob Cross, Markinch, cross-slab
Measurements: H 2.27m, W 0.62m, 0.15m
Stone type: red sandstone
Place of discovery: NO 2960 0220
Present location: apparently in situ on a slope on the northern outskirts of Markinch.
Evidence for discovery: recorded and its base shored up in 1790 and sketched by James Drummond in 1859
Present condition: very weathered with badly damaged edges.
Description
This tall, and originally rectangular, slab stands on a small knoll, facing east/west. Each of the broad faces is carved in relief with a Latin cross, occupying the full width and height of the slab. It may have acted as a garth cross.
Date: early medieval.
References: Statistical Account 1794, vol 12, 552; RCAHMS 1933, no 423.
Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2017
NO20SE 12 2960 0220
(NO 2960 0220) Stob Cross (NR)
OS 6" map (1938)
Stob Cross, Markinch: A mutilated rectangular slab 7'5 1/2" high, 2' broad at the base and 6" thick, with a plain cross carved on the E and W faces. In 1790, when the cross was in danger of falling, the Earl of Leven had the position faced up with masonry.
The monument now stands on a modern two-stepped base.
RCAHMS 1933, visited 1925
Field Visit (17 June 1925)
Stob Cross, Markinch.
Close beside the East Lodge of Balbirnie House, on a knoll 200 feet above sea-level, stands a stone known, from the nature of its sculpturings, as the "Stob Cross." It is a somewhat mutilated rectangular slab, 7 feet 5 ½ inches in height, 2 feet broad at the base and 6 inches thick, having a plain cross carved in relief on the east and on the west face. The cross on the east is now very much damaged but sufficient remains to indicate that the arms have been 1 foot wide and that the shaft has measured 1 foot 5 inches across at the intersection. On the west face the design stands out in relief from 1 to 1 ¼ inches. The arms of the cross measure 11 ½ inches in width, and the upper limb, which tapers slightly to its extremity, is 12 ½ inches across at the point of intersection. The shaft measures 1 foot 2 inches across below the arms and widens gradually downwards to 1 foot 8 inches at the base. In 1790, when the cross was in danger of falling, the Earl of Leven had the position faced up with masonry, and the monument now stands, with its major axis north and south, on a two-stepped base of modern construction. It is, however, much obscured by a thick growth of shrubs and nettles.
RCAHMS 1933, visited 17 June 1925.
Field Visit (31 March 1959)
The cross, though as described, is now very much overgrown.
Surveyed at 1:1250.
Visited by OS (LS Reviser) 31 March 1959
Field Visit (19 June 1974)
Visited by OS (JP) 19 June 1974.
