Scheduled Maintenance
Please be advised that this website will undergo scheduled maintenance on the following dates: •
Tuesday 3rd December 11:00-15:00
During these times, some services may be temporarily unavailable. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Closeburn Old Church
Cross (Anglian)
Site Name Closeburn Old Church
Classification Cross (Anglian)
Alternative Name(s) Closeburn, Parish Church, Burial-ground, Kirkpatrick Of Closeburn Mausoleum; Closeburn, Old Parish Church
Canmore ID 319020
Site Number NX99SW 22.01
NGR NX 90375 92318
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/319020
- Council Dumfries And Galloway
- Parish Closeburn
- Former Region Dumfries And Galloway
- Former District Nithsdale
- Former County Dumfries-shire
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
Closeburn 2, Dumfriesshire, cross-slab fragment
Measurements: H 0.47m, W 0.42m, D 0.9m
Stone type: sandstone.
Place of discovery: NX 90375 92318
Present location: Dumfries Museum (1953/49).
Evidence for discovery: first recorded in 1912 in the porch of the modern church, but presumably from the old churchyard. It was transferred to Dumfries Museum in 1953.
Present condition: the carving is in good condition, and parts of two edges are intact, but the fragment is broken top and bottom.
Description
This fragment forms part of the lower section of a cross-slab, carved on one side only. Using deep grooves, the carver has outlined the shaft and square base of a plain cross, with panels alongside the shaft that contain knotwork.
Date: eighth or ninth century.
References: Craig 1992, vol 2, 37-8.
Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2019.
Field Visit (10 June 1912)
Cross-shaft from Closeburn.- In the grounds of the Grierson Museum at Thornhill is a cross-shaft or slab, which was taken from the site at the village of Closeburn. The slab is of white sandstone, and is 3 feet 6 inches high, 13 inches wide by 7 inches deep at the top, and 14 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches at bottom. The right sude is ornamented with the scroll foliage involving birds pecking at the fruit, which is so marked a feature of the Ruthwell Cross and other local example.
Visited by RCAHMS, 10th June 1912
Field Visit (24 May 1912)
Beside the font lies a fragment of cross-shaft, with two vertical panels of interlaced work formed from a four-cord plait.
A fine beak-head, evidently from the cornice of a church of the later Norman period, is also preserved here.
Visited by RCAHMS, 24th May and 12th June 1912
Reference (1975)
MacKie notes a fragment of an Anglian cross-shaft, with interlace ornament, in the old church at Closeburn. He adds that the decoration on the cross-shaft in Dumfries Museum is very similar to that on the Ruthwell cross, which he states is usually thought to date to some time between AD 680 and 750, most probably the first half of the 8th century. E W MacKie 1975
Field Visit (17 August 1976)
There is no sign of the fragment of cross-shaft referred to by MacKie either at the old church or in the new church. The minister has no knowledge of it.
Visited by OS (JP) 17 August 1976
