Kilkerran Churchyard

NR71NW 5 7282 1945.

NR 7283 1946 (information from OS {RDL} 1963). In Kilkerran Cemetery are two fragments of the shaft of a 15th century cross, which have been cemented together and erected on a modern base. It measures 1.88m in height and tapers in width from 0.28m at the base to 0.16m at the top,and in thickness from 0.10m at the base to 0.08m at the top. The shaft is decorated on both faces and along either edge with carvings in medium relief.

Front: At the top there is an inscription in Lombardic capitals reading: HEC / EST / CRUX / CRIS / TINI / MA (C) AYG / ET UX / OR EI / USS ("This is the cross of Gilchrist MacKay and his wife"). The last five lines of the inscription have been restored. Below the inscription there are three niches containing respectively a female figure in an attitude of prayer, a man and a women embracing one another, and a warrior on horseback. At the foot is a representation of a metal-bound casket with handle.

Back: The reverse of this stone has also been partly restored. At the top there is a strip of eight-cord plaitwork, and below this two intertwined foliaceous stems terminating in a pair of dragons' heads.

At the foot is a galley with furled sail. Right Edge: A strip of four-cord double-beaded ribbon plait. Left Edge: A dog facing a double-beaded knot and linked by the tail to a leaf-scroll.

(Scheduled as 'Cristin's Cross'.)

(See also NR71NW 2.1 and NR71NW 4 for associated monuments).

2 OS photos AO/63/0684, 0691.

RCAHMS 1971, visited 1967; Visited by OS (RDL) 14 March 1963.