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Ruthwell Church
Architectural Fragment(S) (Period Unknown), Burial Ground (Medieval), Church (19th Century), War Memorial(S) (20th Century)
Site Name Ruthwell Church
Classification Architectural Fragment(S) (Period Unknown), Burial Ground (Medieval), Church (19th Century), War Memorial(S) (20th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Ruthwell Parish Church; Ruthwell And Mount Kedar Church
Canmore ID 66587
Site Number NY16NW 40
NGR NY 10066 68207
NGR Description NY 10065 68207
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/66587
- Council Dumfries And Galloway
- Parish Ruthwell
- Former Region Dumfries And Galloway
- Former District Nithsdale
- Former County Dumfries-shire
Ruthwell 3, Dumfriesshire (St Cuthbert), architectural fragment
Measurements: L 0.41m, W 0.32m, D 0.18
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: NY 1006 6820
Present location: in Dumfries Museum.
Evidence for discovery: found sometime prior to 1917 and kept at the foot of the Ruthwell Cross in the church, until 1950 when it was taken into Dumfries Museum.
Present condition: the carving is clear and there are traces of mortar, suggesting that it may have been built into an earlier church.
Description
This fragment is carefully dressed on its plain surfaces, and one narrow face is shaped into two steps, each with a curved profile. The upper face bears part of a panel of interlace carved in low relief within a plain flatband border along both long edges. The interlace takes the form of two rows of inturned Stafford knots.
Date: ninth century or later
References: Williams 1975.
Desk-based informtion compiled by A Ritchie 2018
NY16NW 40 10066 68207
For Ruthwell Cross (in apse) see NY16NW 4; for manse see NY16NW 5.
Presbytery of Dumfries: the church was dedicated to St Cuthbert.
H Scott 1915-61.
c. 1800; much altered.
G Hay 1957.
Ruthwell (Glasgow, Annandale). An independent parsonage in Bagimond, the church remained unappropriated, its patronage pertaining to the Murrays of Cockpool from the early 14th century to the Reformation.
I B Cowan 1967.
The sculptured fragment that lies at the foot of the Ruthwell Cross (NY16NW 4) measures 0.41m in length, is rectangular in section and has evidently formed part of a much longer lintel or door-jamb; it bears traces of mortar, suggesting that it was formerly incorporated into the structure of the mediaeval parish church. It is decorated with a well-executed circular plait within a panel; the comparanda for this decoration are continental rather than local.
Held in Dumfries Museum, there is a semi-circular drum-capital of diameter 0.8m which is decorated with arcading and roll-mouldings. This may be attributed to the last quarter of the 11th century.
J Williams 1975.
Ruthwell and Mount Kedar Church. Painted rubble kirk with a complex building history. It began as a very long and narrow medieval church, and in the late 17th century. The Murrays of Cockpool added a S burial 'aisle' In 1801-3 the main block was recast by Sanderson of Dalkeith. The N apse (which houses the Ruthwell cross) was added by Campbell Douglas and Sellars in 1886-7, and in 1906 James Barbour and Bowie again recast the building.
J Gifford 1996.
Photographic Record (June 2005 - 12 September 2008)
The National Association of Decorative and Fine Art Societies (NADFAS) visited several churches at risk to record stained glass windows.
Information from HES Survey and Recording (HS), 13 October 2015
External Reference (March 2012)
There is a plaque on the wall in Ruthwell Parish Church for the WWI war
memorial.
Information from M Briscoe, March 2012
External Reference
EXTERNAL REFERENCE:
Scottish Records Office
NRAS (Mansfield) 776
Second series Bundle 2338 (p662)
Miscellaneous estate papers relating to Annandale 1785-1844. Specifically:
Estimate of the expense of building and finishing a church at Ruthwell, according to the plan from Edinburgh by Mr Hamilton, by John McCracken and an abstract of a report by former. 1800.
Maps and Plans (p135) (p692)
Plan and elevation of Ruthwell Church nd. [1800] unsigned [Hamilton]
