Ancrum, Old Ancrum Church, Graveyard

Ancrum 1, Roxburghshire, fragment of panel

Measurements: H 256mm, W 315mm, D 75mm

Stone type: cream coloured Old Red Sandstone

Place of discovery: NT c629245

Present location: Jedburgh Abbey Museum, incorporated into the roof of the shrine reconstruction.

Evidence for discovery: the fragment was found in a garden near Ancrum in 1903 and brought to Jedburgh Abbey at an unknown later date. Its original provenance is unknown, although it may have come from the Old Ancrum churchyard to the north-west of Ancrum village.

Present condition: good

Description

This is a fragment from a panel, carved in relief with plaitwork and a plain border along one edge. There is no reason to associate it with the Jedburgh shrine panel, though it could have come from a shrine or chancel screen (Cramp 1983: 281).

Date: ninth century

References: Laidlaw 1905: no 10; RCAHMS 1956, 207-8; Cramp 1983: fig 120c.

Compiled by A Ritchie 2016

Ancrum 2, Roxburghshire, hogback grave-cover

Measurements: L 2.70m, W 0.52m to 0.36m, H 0.29m to 0.28 high at ends, max height 0.34m.

Stone type: old red sandstone

Place of discovery: NT 6215 2485

Present location: Old Ancrum churchyard, south of the ruined church, now protected by a wooden cover and no longer visible.

Evidence for discovery: found in 1922 by R Robson, at which time the top of the stone was visible above the turf, and excavated that same year by J Hewat Craw. Re-excavated by J N G Ritchie and J T Lang in 1969. The stone was taken up for conservation in 2018.

Present condition: very poor: extremely friable sandstone, serious longitudinal fractures and flaking.

Description

This hogback has a double ridge with a central groove and five rows of semicircular tegulae on either side. Each tegula is about 0.08m wide and 0.06m high on a flat pitch, and below them are incised eaves above plain flat sides, 0.1m high. The ends are truncated, and the stone is set on a plain plinth, presumably the top cover of the grave for which it was re-used.

Date: early twelfth century

References: Craw 1922, 188; RCAHMS 1956, no 1; Lang 1974, 223; DEA 2018, 172-3.

Compiled by A Ritchie 2016

NT62SW 2.01 6215 2485

Beneath the turf of the church-yard, about 20yds S of the ruin, there lies a hog- backed stone about 6ft 4in in length, ornamented on both sides with five rows of shingle ornament. It was recorded in 1922, when more of the stone appears to have been above the surface, that its breadth was 1ft 10in at the head and 1ft 2in at the foot, and its height 1ft at either end and 1ft 1 1/2in in the middle. (J H Craw 1922). The churchyard also contains two small headstones of earlier date than 1707. The first, which has a shaped top, is carved on one side with a winged hour-glass, a skull, and a cherub's head. Behind the skull runs a scroll, bearing a motto in two lines, only the first words of each, respectively LIVE and MINDE, being legible today. On the back runs the inscription HERE LYES/IAMES LIGERTUOD/TENNANT IN H(OU)/ NDLIE UHO DIED/SUPTR 14 1621/HIS AGE 74/AS ALSO ISOBELL/LIGERTWOOD DAUT(E)R/TO WALTER LIGERT/UOOD TENNANT IN/MENHOUSE WHO DIED/ OCTBR 16 1720 HIR AGE 25. The second stone, also with a shaped top, displays in front a crudely carved skull and cross-bones, while the back bears the inscription HERE LYES/ADAM RICHARDSON/ WHO LIVED IN ANE ONEST REPUT ALL/HIS DAYES AND DIED/ IN OCTOBER THE 19/1701 AND OF HIS/AGE 55.

Bell.

Visited by RCAHMS 22 March and 13 October 1933

RCAHMS 1956

The hog-backed stone was located at NT 6215 2485, protruding slightly above the turf. The headstones described by the RCAHMS are still evident.

Visited by OS (WDJ) 23 January 1967