Culross Abbey
Cross Base (Early Medieval)
Site Name Culross Abbey
Classification Cross Base (Early Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) Culross A
Canmore ID 48042
Site Number NS98NE 3.02
NGR NS 98891 86253
NGR Description NS 9886 8624 and NS 9887 8624
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/48042
- Council Fife
- Parish Culross
- Former Region Fife
- Former District Dunfermline
- Former County Fife
Culross 1 (St Serf), Fife, cross-base fragment
Measurements: H 0.85m, W (incomplete) 1.16m at the base, 1.03m at the top, D 0.64 at the base, o.56m at the top.
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: NS c 988 862
Evidence for discovery: first recorded in 1926 beside the church door. Culross 2 was soon afterwards cemented into its socket. Both were later taken into the church and now stand set into a large wooden log.
Present condition: battered and worn.
Description
This is perhaps two-thirds of the original base, which is a slightly tapering form with straight sides and a deeply chamfered top. The sides are plain apart from a deeply incised line along the sides and top of the three surviving sides, which creates a fat roll moulding at each corner. The chamfer bears traces of interlace ornament carved in relief. The socket in the top of the stone is 0.56m long, the incomplete width is 0.15m, and it is 0.13m deep.
Date range: eighth to tenth century.
Primary references: Douglas 1926, 68.
Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2017
NS98NE 3.2 9886 8624 and 9887 8624.
There are three 8th or 9th century Celtic stones at Culross Church (W Douglas 1926). "A" is the base of a cross-shaft, 3'6" x 1'11" x 2' 4 1/2", ornamented with knot-work. Within its socket is "B", a fragment of an unrelated cross-shaft, 2'7" high, ornamented with fret and scroll-work on its sides. Stone "C", also apparently a fragment of a cross-shaft, is embedded in the ground bordering the steps of the NE corner of the graveyard.
W Douglas 1926; RCAHMS 1933.
Field Visit (31 August 1927)
Outside the church and beside the tower-stair is the massive base of an early cross-shaft. It is of sandstone and measures 3 feet 6 inches by 1 foot 11 inches by 2 feet 4 1/2 inches in height; the upper surface has a chamfered margin, which bears a knotwork enrichment, and the outer angles have a bead moulding.
RCAHMS 1933, visited 31 August 1927.
Field Visit (12 January 1954)
NS 9886 8624: Stones A and B at the church entrance, are as described. Stone C was not found in the position described, but a stone now against the choir at NS 9887 8624 maybe the one referred to. It measures 0.8m x 0.2m x 0.4m.
Visited by OS (J L D) 12 January 1954.
Note
For cross-shaft found inserted into this stone see NS98NE 3.07.
For other early medieval stones found here see also NS98NE 3.06 and NS98NE 3.08.
