Oxnam Parish Church

Oxnam 1, Roxburghshire, recumbent grave- cover

Measurements: L 1.63m, W 0.36m, D 0.18m - 0.21m

Stone type: sandstone

Place of discovery: NT 7011 1899

Present location: in the manse garden set up against the NW angle of the stable.

Evidence for discovery: found in the churchyard, having been re-used as a grave-cover in 1853 for someone whose initials were O R, and subsequently moved to the manse garden to form the base of a sundial. It was removed in 1903 and set against the garden wall. In 2003 it was returned to the churchyard and now stands against the exterior south wall of the church on a modern plinth.

Present condition: the top flat-band border has flaked off and there is damage to the base of the slab at the top. There is also surface damage to face A.

Description

Within a plain flat-band border, there is a cusped cross carved in low relief and set on a steep three-stepped base.

Date: eleventh century.

References: Laidlaw 1905, 31-2, fig 12; RCAHMS 1956, no 786 (2).

Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2017

Oxnam 2, Roxburghshire, recumbent grave-cover fragment

Measurements: H 1.14, W 0.47m, D 0.14m

Stone type: sandstone

Place of discovery: NT 7011 1899

Present location: upright beside the door to the vestry of the parish church.

Evidence for discovery: found in the graveyard in 1903.

Present condition: good.

Description

Within a flat-band moulding, there is at the top of the slab an additional cable moulding. A cusped cross carved in relief fills the panel.

Date: eleventh or twelfth century

References: Laidlaw 1905, 32, fig 13; RCAHMS 1956, no 786 (1).

Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2017

NT71NW 3 70118 18994 and NT 6995 1847

(NT 7011 1900 : NT 6995 1847) Church (TU) : Sculptured Stone (TI)

OS 6"map, Roxburghshire, (1923).

Although the present parish church of Oxnam was built in 1738, there are eight gravestones in the churchyard and the garden of the manse which date from before 1707, including two mediaeval slabs.

One of these slabs, 5ft 4ins long and carved with a Calvary cross, is set up in the manse garden, against the NW angle of the stable. It bears the date '1853', believed to be the date of its discovery in the churchyard.

The other slab, part of a grave-cover similar to the former, is set up beside the vestry door.

A recumbent slab in the graveyard commemorates a minister of the parish who died in 1681 (Fasti Eccles Scot {H Scott et al ed.} 1866-71).

RCAHMS 1956; W Laidlaw 1905.

The Rev Thompson states that there is a list of pre-Reformation ministers in Fasti Eccles Scot 1866-71, (see above) and he believes that the present church is built on the site of an earlier one.

The gravestones, as described by the RCAHMS and PSAS, were all located in their recorded positions.

Visited by OS (RD) 23 January 1967.

No change.

Visited by OS (EGC) 22 May 1968.