Culross Abbey

Culross 3 (St Serf), Fife, cross-shaft fragments

Measurements: H 1.30m, W 0.35m at the base, 0.33 at the top, D 0.17m

Stone type: sandstone

Place of discovery: NS c 9890 8629

Evidence for discovery: first recorded in 1926 ‘serving the purpose of a border to a flight of steps near the north-east corner of the churchyard’. Sometime later it was taken into the church, and set leaning against the broad face of the cross-base, Culross 1.

Present condition: extremely weathered and broken into three fragments, now cemented together.

Description

These fragments come from a very slender cross-shaft, carved in relief but so worn that the ornament is hard to follow. Face A is bordered by a plain flat-band moulding, within which there appears to be a central panel of dense diagonal key pattern, with a narrow panel of ornament, possibly interlace, on either side. There are barely discernable traces of carving on faces B and D, and face C has been thoroughly defaced.

Date range: eighth or ninth century.

Primary references: Douglas 1926, 68.

Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2017

NS98NE 3.2 9886 8624 and 9887 8624.

There are three 8th or 9th century Celtic stones at Culross Church (W Douglas 1926). "A" is the base of a cross-shaft, 3'6" x 1'11" x 2' 4 1/2", ornamented with knot-work. Within its socket is "B", a fragment of an unrelated cross-shaft, 2'7" high, ornamented with fret and scroll-work on its sides. Stone "C", also apparently a fragment of a cross-shaft, is embedded in the ground bordering the steps of the NE corner of the graveyard.

W Douglas 1926; RCAHMS 1933.