RCAHMS County Inventory: Dumfriesshire
Date May 1912 - June 1920
Event ID 1086864
Category Project
Type Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1086864
We, your Majesty's Commissioners, appointed to make an Inventory of the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions connected with or illustrative of the contemporary culture, civilisation, and conditions of life of the people in Scotland from the earliest times to the year 1707, and to specify those which seem most worthy of preservation, humbly present to your Majesty this our seventh Report. In doing so, we must refer with deepest regret to the death of our esteemed colleague, Lord Guthrie, upon whose counsel we had become accustomed to rely and whose historical knowledge we have found invaluable in the discharge of our duties. We regret also that we have since lost another colleague in the death of Mr Francis C. Buchanan.
Appended to the Report is a list of the monuments and constructions of Dumfriesshire, which, in the opinion of your Commissioners, seem most worthy of preservation, divided into two classes, viz. (a) those which appear to be specially in need of protection, and (b) those worthy of preservation but not in imminent risk of demolition or decay.
Your Commissioners have found it desirable to adopt a different format for their Reports and Inventories in order to present the material, and particularly the illustrations, in a more adequate manner, and the present volume is the first in this new style. On the eve of its issue, in the early summer of 1916, a fire in the printers' works totally destroyed the whole material, which had to be assembled afresh for publication.
Your Commissioners have again to express their thanks to proprietors and others for affording facilities and assistance in the prosecution of their work; particularly to E. J. Brook, Esq., of Hoddom Castle, Dumfriesshire, and Mr James McKillop, formerly of the Hoddom Estates Office, Ecclefechan, also to Mr G. W. Shirley of the Ewart Public Library, Dumfries.
In the preparation of the Inventory they have to thank George Macdonald, Esq., LL.D., C.B., F.B.A., for assistance in the field of Roman antiquities ; George Neilson, Esq., LL.D. , for a contribution and other material ; the Rev. J. King Hewison, D.D., for the use of blocks; the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland for the use of illustrations ; and Professor Halliday, Liverpool for the illustration of the Bruce stone, which stone is in the possession of his family .
The Report on the Ruthwell Cross occupies a considerable part of this volume, and is so wide in its scope that your Commissioners think it desirable to preface it with a few words of explanation. This famous monument is an object of quite exceptional interest, attracting much attention not only among British but also among Continental and American scholars. In the three years 1912 to 1914, no fewer than three books, and at least nine articles or pamphlets, appeared on the subject in England and the United States, and since then these numbers have been materially increased. In all these publications arguments regarding the date and provenance of the monument were based on the figure and ornamental sculpture and on the inscriptions in Runic and Latin characters, as well as on the historical and geographical probabilities for or against this or that theory of origin. Such being the case, it has seemed to your Commissioners that, while it is the first 'part of their duty to describe with as much fulness and accuracy as possible the Ruthwell Cross in all its aspects, it is incumbent on them also to supply the available information, archaeological, linguistic, and historical, without which no reasoned opinion can be formed as to the date and provenance of this remarkable specimen of medieval art.
With this purpose in view, the necessary references have been made to the similar monument at Bewcastle in Cumberland, of which illustrations have been added for comparison. The Commissioners have further availed themselves of the aid of Mr A. Blyth Webster, formerly Lecturer in English in the University of Edinburgh, now Professor of English Literature in the University of St Andrews, who has furnished them with an examination of the language and literary content of the poem inscribed on the Ruthwell Cross. In this connection they desire also to acknowledge the services of Mr Ritchie Girvan, Lecturer on the English Language in the University of Glasgow.
During the summer of 1915 the archaeological survey of Skye and the Outer Hebrides was carried through, and considerable progress was made with the architectural Survey of Midlothian, of which county the prehistoric survey had already been completed. The work of the Commission was suspended in March 1916 for the duration of the War, but since its resumption in 1919 the survey of the monuments of East Lothian has been finished and that of Midlothian is expected to be completed in the current year.
Your Commissioners regret that many instances have been brought to their notice of the serious decay of historical buildings owing to neglect. The publication of County Inventories, however, having already served to bring some such cases to the attention of proprietors and others, it is hoped that a continuation of the series will not be without further effect in causing more care to be bestowed upon other buildings worthy of preservation.
During the War the staff of the Commission was employed in different services relating thereto, both the architects receiving commissions in the Royal Engineers.
Herbert Maxwell, G Baldwin Brown, Thomas H Bryce, W T Oldrieve, Thomas Ross, Alexander O Curle, W Mackay Mackenzie (Secretary).
Edinburgh, December 1920
