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Lochwinnoch, 'the Dumb Proctor'

Carved Stone (Period Unassigned)

Site Name Lochwinnoch, 'the Dumb Proctor'

Classification Carved Stone (Period Unassigned)

Alternative Name(s) Crook Hill

Canmore ID 42174

Site Number NS35NW 3

NGR NS 3480 5967

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/42174

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Renfrewshire
  • Parish Lochwinnoch
  • Former Region Strathclyde
  • Former District Renfrew
  • Former County Renfrewshire

Archaeology Notes

NS35NW 3 3480 5967

(NS 3480 5967) Sculptured Stone (NR)

OS 25" map (1966)

The Dumb Proctor is a stone on which is cut out the figure of a man riding an ass. It is thought that it stood on Crook Hill (NS 353 595) at one time. There were at one time many Saxon letters engraved on it which are now obliterated.

OS Name Book 1856.

In 1890, this stone was in a garden in Lochwinnoch which belonged to James Ewing, whose grandfather discovered it when ploughing in a field in the neighbourhood. "The stone stands about 4ft 3ins high above the base in which it is inserted, and is about 21ins broad at the base, and 6 1/2ins thick. The stone is much worn and the ornamentation is very indistinct. The border has been of interlaced work, but only the horizontal lines are now visible in the enclosed spaces under the figures. Although nothing can be said for certain about the finished shape of the stone, it has not unlikely been cruciform, a rude representation of the Crucified on one side, and the flight into Egypt on the other; a large boss, from which the supposed serpent hangs, being at the intersection of the arms.

Archaeol Hist Collect Renfrew 1890.

The Dumb Proctor is now erected upon the burial ground of James Ewing in Lochwinnoch cemetery.

Information from J McAllister, 6 September 1955.

The "Dumb Proctor" is as described by Ordnance Survey Name Book (ONB); it is much weathered.

Visited by OS (DS), 3 September 1956.

Previous field report confirmed.

Visited by OS (EGC), 2 July 1964.

Dr Ralph Shuttleworth notes that this stone has been heavily truncated. Carved from yellow sandstone, it is set into a block of red sandstone. There are incised panels on both faces below the relief carvings, the panel on side A containing the eroded remains of lettering.

The figures in relief on side A comprise a hemi-spherical boss with a 'vertical bar' at the end of which there is the head of a snake. A horseman below faces left. Side B is dominated by a tunic-clad, lower portion of a shod figure whose feet face left. There are no traces of the interlace referred to above in Archaeol Hist Collect Renfrew of 1890.

Dr Shuttleworth also notes that there is a close resemblance between this stone and to two of those from St Blanes, Isle of Bute (see nos. 2 and 6 in Allen, J R and Anderson, J The Early Christian Monuments of Scotland (volume 2, 407-411, 1993)).

Information from Dr R Shuttleworth, 21 September 2000.

NMRS MS/1057.

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