Glasgow, Govan Old Parish Church, Govan 4

Govan 4 (Sun Stone) (St Constantine), Glasgow, Renfrewshire, cross-slab

Measurements: H 1.69m, W 0.67m, D 0.19m

Stone type: sandstone

Place of discovery: NS c 5537 6588

Present location: in the west end of the nave of Govan Old Parish Church.

Evidence for discovery: found in the churchyard in the early nineteenth centuryand moved into a building in the churchyard in 1858. It was moved into the church in 1926 and into the north aisle in 1965.

Present condition: very weathered on both sides and the base is damaged.

Description

This slab tapers slightly upwards towards a top where there is a low tenon, as on Govan 5. Both broad faces are carved in relief, face A with a cross and a figural panel, and face C with the swirling design that gave rise to the stone’s popular name, the Sun Stone. The cross spans the width of face A, with its upper arm extending to the top of the slab, it is an outline cross with a roll moulded border, and it is filled with interlace carved with a median incised cord. Two-cord twist using median cord fills the spaces beside the cross, and beneath, carved in false relief, is a horse and rider facing left. The horse is poorly drawn, and the rider holds in his right hand a bulky spear. The so-called sun symbol on the upper part of face C is in fact a spiral boss from which four snakes emerge to swirl round the boss. Below is a square panel of fret pattern, again using median-incised cords, with some of the central spaces hollowed out.

Date: tenth or eleventh century.

References: ECMS pt 3, 463, no 4; Fisher 1994, figs 25b, 26; Davidson Kelly Desk-based information c994, 10-11.

Compiled by A Ritchie 2017