Parkmill
Cist (Early Medieval)(Possible), Cross Slab (Early Medieval)
Site Name Parkmill
Classification Cist (Early Medieval)(Possible), Cross Slab (Early Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) Hawk Hill; Stone Cross
Canmore ID 48304
Site Number NS99SW 11
NGR NS 90133 92661
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/48304
- Council Clackmannan
- Parish Alloa
- Former Region Central
- Former District Clackmannan
- Former County Clackmannanshire
Hawkhill (Parkmill), Clackmannanshire, cross-slab
Measurements: H 2.44m, W 0.80m, D 0.23m
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: NS 90133 92661
Evidence for discovery: first recorded by James Drummond in the mid nineteenth century. At the start of the century, roadworks revealed a short cist near the cross-slab, which was covered by a slab bearing a small incised cross at either end.
Present condition: very weathered.
Description
This tall slab bears a long-shafted cross on either side, created by a broad pecked groove, with sunken circular armpits. The side-arms extend to the sides of the slab in both cases, and the upper arm to the top of the slab on one side and terminating short of the top on the other.
Date: tenth or eleventh century.
References: NSA 1845, vol 8, Clackmannanshire 32; Drummond 1863, 86, 88; ECMS pt 3, 376-7.
Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2017
NS99SW 11 90133 92661
(NS 9013 9266) Stone Cross (NR)
OS 6" map, (1948)
This slab known as the "Stone Cross" (New Statistical Account {NSA} 1845) is set up on a knoll 200 yards S of the main road between Alloa and Clackmannan. It is packed round the base with fairly large stones, and stands with its broad face E-W. A cross of Celtic form is incised on both sides, It stands 8' high and measures 2'7 1/2" x 9" at base.
When the site was examined in 1829, many human bones were found close to the stone, and at about 9' N of its base was a stone cist which contained human bones, and was covered with a flagstone, at each end of which was incised a small cross of simple form.
Long before 1829 the cross stood on the inside of a hedge-row and was situated about 160 paces from the old road between Alloa and Clackmannan, and a few paces W of it was an old parish road. The Statistical Account (OSA 1791) notes that old people used to speak of the figure of a man on horseback which they had seen on it.
NSA (written by P Brotherston) 1845; P Miller 1889; RCAHMS 1933.
This cross is as described. The incised crosses on either face can still be seen, although they are much weather-worn.
Visited by OS (W M J) 7 July 1950.
Field Visit (22 May 1925)
Cross Slab, Hawk Hil1.
This slab (Fig.28), is set up on a knoll about 200 yards south of the main roadway between Alloa and Clackmannan and about midway between the site of the cairn (NS89SE 10) and that of the stone circle (NS99SW 9). It is packed round the base with fairly large stones and stands with its broad faces east and west. A cross of Celtic form is incised on both sides, the incisions being about half an inch in depth. On the east face the shaft is made to spring directly from a base, without the intervention of a basic line. The design on the west face is similar, but the shaft here has been almost entirely obliterated by weathering. The slab is 8 feet in height, 2 feet 7 ½ inches in width at the base, and 9 inches in thickness. "When the site was examined in 1829, many human bones were found close to the stone, and at about 9 feet N. of its base was a stone cist, formed of sandstone flags, which contained human bones, and was covered with a flag at each end of which was incised a small cross of simple form, but evidently cut with care" (1).
RCAHMS 1933, visited 22 May 1925.
(1) Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., xxiii (I 888-9), p. 154. Cf. also Early Christian Monuments, p. 377.
Field Visit (August 1977)
Parkmill, Hawkhill, Cross-slab NS 901 926 NS99SW 11
Stone slab, probably of medieval date, with an inscribed cross on each face; excavations carried out nearby in 1929 revealed a stone cist, with a cross-incised cover-slab, and other burials.
RCAHMS 1978, visited August 1977
(NSA, viii, 42; Miller 1889, 153-6; RCAHMS 1933, No. 596)
Desk Based Assessment (October 2004)
A Desk-based Assessment concerning the location of the Parkmill Stone, near Alloa, Clackmannan was carried out in October 2004. The work was commissioned by IKM Consulting in advance of construction works associated with the proposed Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine Railway (Route re-opening) and Linked Improvements.
Melanie Johnson, CFA Archaeology Ltd, 2004
