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High Auchenlarie
Cross Slab (Early Medieval)
Site Name High Auchenlarie
Classification Cross Slab (Early Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) Kirkdale House
Canmore ID 63730
Site Number NX55SW 32
NGR NX 5364 5340
NGR Description NX 5364 5340 and NX 5365 5340: now at NX 515 533
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/63730
- Council Dumfries And Galloway
- Parish Anwoth
- Former Region Dumfries And Galloway
- Former District Stewartry
- Former County Kirkcudbrightshire
High Auchenlarie 1, Kirkcudbrightshire, cross-slab
Measurements: H 1.70m above ground, W 0.39m, D 0.30m
Stone type:
Place of discovery: NX 5364 5340
Evidence for discovery: first recorded in 1849 by the OS standing upright in a field on the farm of High Auchenlarie, along with High Auchenlarie 2. Around 1854 both were taken to stand in the garden at Cardoness House, until 1972 when they were moved to Kirkdale House.
Present location: in an open wooden shed at Kirkdale House (NX 515 553).
Present condition: the top is very weathered.
Description:
This irregularly shaped pillar bears a cross carved in low relief and deeply pecked incision. Within two grooves outlining face A is a hammer-headed cross set on a broad shaft, with four small hollows in the upper arm and one in the centre of the cross-head.
Date: early medieval.
Primary references: ECMS pt 3, 480; Craig 1992, vol 2, 312-15.
Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2019
High Auchenlarie 2, Kirkcudbrightshire, cross-slab
Measurements: H 1.57m above ground, W0.32m, D 0.40m
Stone type:
Place of discovery: NX 5365 5340
Evidence for discovery: first recorded in 1849 by the OS standing upright in a field on the farm of High Auchenlarie, along with High Auchenlarie 1. Around 1854 both were taken to stand in the garden at Cardoness House, until about 1970 when they were moved to Kirkdale House.
Present location: in an open wooden shed at Kirkdale House (NX 515 553).
Present condition: the top is damaged.
Description:
One face of this pillar bears an outline cross with square terminals to the arms, set on a broad shaft that echoes the span of the side-arms. The centre of the cross-head is marked by a small hollow.
Date: early medieval.
Primary references: ECMS pt 3, 480; Craig 1992, vol 2, 317-17.
Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2019
Field Visit (15 May 1912)
26. Cross-slabs, Cardoness.—Some 20 feet to the northward of the present position of the cup-marked stones at Cardoness (No. 20) stand the two sculptured standing-stones brought from a site on High Auchenlarie, described in The Sculptured Stones of Scotland as "situated on the elevated upper part of a field about 500 yards west of a point where there is still seen a few upright stones, apparently the remains of a ' Druidical Circle,'" presumably the circle No. 18.
The stones themselves in situ are said to have stood quite close together with an acute inclination to the north, and to have been surrounded by a cairn of boulder stones. Some forty-eight years ago they were removed to Cardoness. The two stones (shown in fig. 22) now stand side by side, partially overgrown with ivy, behind the greenhouses in the garden at Cardoness. The taller stone measures 5 feet 9 inches in height above ground, I foot 4 inches in breadth near the base, diminishing upwards, and 11 inches in thickness. Picked out somewhat rudely on the front of the stone is a cross with hollow angles resting on a long shaft, the top and side arms having a quasi-rectangular form. The upper portion of the shaft
immediately below the cross-head is divided into three triangular
segments by two incised lines bisecting its upper angles and crossing
at the centre. The incised lines which delineate the cross are carried unsymmetrically beyond the head on either side. In the centre of the cross-head, and near the centre of the upper arm, are small cup depressions, while four similar markings are placed lozengewise in the upper portion of the stone.
The adjacent stone measures 5 feet 8 inches in height, 12 inches in breadth, diminishing towards its upper end, and 12 inches in thickness. Similarly picked out upon it is a cross of three oblong rectangular arjps and rudely hollowed angles resting on a long shaft, with a small cup depression in the centre of the head. The incised lines which marked the outline of the cross are carried on either side to the base, beyond a transverse line which indicates the lower termination of the shaft.
See The Sculptured Stones of Scotland, i. p. 38.
Visited by RCAHMS 15th May 1912.
Desk Based Assessment (3 November 1971)
NX55SW 32 515 533 (formerly 5364 5340 and 5365 5340)
(NX 5364 5340 and NX 5365 5340) Standing Stones (NR)
OS 6" map (1853)
Two cross-slabs, dated by MacLeod to the late 10th/11th century, were moved in 1864 from their position by the medieval route above High Auchenlarie to the garden at Cardoness House (NX 5665 5362). They are 5'8" and 5'9" tall, and, according to the RCAHMS, when in situ, they were leaning N, surrounded by a cairn of boulders.
Information from OS (IF) 3 November 1971
Name Book 1849; RCAHMS 1914, visited 1912; I F MacLeod 1969
Field Visit (14 March 1972)
The cross-slabs are situated at NX 5646 5349. Their original findspot could not be confirmed.
Visited by OS (RD) 14 March 1972
Reference (1979)
These cross-slabs have been cemented-in under an open shed behind Kirkdale House (NX 515 533) together with 6 cup-and-ring marked stones (NX55SW 56.01).
R W B Morris 1979.
