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Dogton, 'dogton Stone', 'dogton Stone, Cross Shaft'
Cross (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Dogton, 'dogton Stone', 'dogton Stone, Cross Shaft'
Classification Cross (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 52892
Site Number NT29NW 2
NGR NT 23609 96864
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/52892
- Council Fife
- Parish Kinglassie
- Former Region Fife
- Former District Kirkcaldy
- Former County Fife
Dogton, Fife, cross-shaft in base
Measurements: shaft H 1.50m, W0.51m; base H 0.38m, W 1.07m, D 0.76m
Stone type: yellow sandstone
Place of discovery: NT 23609 96864
Present location: in situ.
Evidence for discovery: first recorded by Thomas Pennant in the mid eighteenth century.
Present condition: very weathered and damaged, now within an iron railing in the field boundary.
Description
Set in its original base, this is the shaft and part of the head of a once fine free-standing cross, carved in relief. Faces A and D are very defaced. On face C the head had a central boss and at the top of the shaft there are traces of a horseman with a spear. Face B bears a panel with two biting serpents knotted together.
Date range: eighth to tenth century.
References: Pennant 1772, pl 23; Stuart 1856, pl 53; ECMS pt 3, 364-5.
NT29NW 2 23609 96864
(NT 23619686) Standing Stone (NR)
OS 6" map (1920)
At Dogton is a much mutilated free-standing cross, erect on its ancient base, and known as the 'Dogton Stone'. The cross, which reaches a height of 4ft 10ins stands on a base measuring 3 1/2 by 2 1/2 by 1 1/4 feet. It is sculptured on its four sides, but the design and ornmanentation are much defaced by mineral stains and weathering except on the south side. The top portion is badly mutilated and the arms are missing. It is set with its main axis almost due north and south, and its broad faces measure 1 foot 8 inches in width.
RCAHMS 1933
Field Visit (12 May 1925)
Cross-shaft Dogton. - About 100 yards to the south of Dogton farm-house, at an elevation between the 300 and 350 feet contours, on the face of a sloping hill and set in a gap of a dyke, are the remains of a much mutilated free-standing cross, erect on its ancient base. It is known as "The Dogton Stone," and it has now been placed under the guardianship of H.M. Office of Works and enclosed within a metal railing. The cross, which reaches a height of 4 feet 10 inches, stands on a base measuring 3 ½ by 2 ½ by 1 ¼ feet. It is sculptured on its four sides, but the design and ornamentation are much defaced by mineral stains and weathering, except on the south side. The top portion is badly mutilated, and the arms are missing. It is set with its main axis almost due north and south, and its broad faces measure 1 foot 8 inches in width. The sculptures, as far as they can now be identified, are as follows:-
West side :-A combination of interlaced work and key-pattern panels side by side, but all very indistinct.
East side :-A large circular boss In the centre of the head, with two panels below-the upper one showing a horseman with a spear, and the lower having a very .badly defaced representation of what seem to be animals.
North side :-Entirely defaced, with the exception of a small portion of a panel-margin at the top.
South side: - Two serpents with bodies entwined at three intervals so as to form a kind of interlaced work. The stone has been described and fully illustrated by Stuart in his Sculptured Stones of Scotland, vol. i, pls. 53 and 54.
RCAHMS 1933, visited 12 May 1925.
Field Visit (25 February 1959)
This cross, as described by the RCAHMS is now enclosed within a circular iron railing. Apart from weathering it is in good condition.
Visited by OS (WDJ) 25 February 1959
