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Kilkerran Cemetery

Cross (Period Unassigned)

Site Name Kilkerran Cemetery

Classification Cross (Period Unassigned)

Canmore ID 38715

Site Number NR71NW 4

NGR NR 7288 1937

NGR Description NR 7288 1937 and NR 7289 1938

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/38715

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Argyll And Bute
  • Parish Campbeltown
  • Former Region Strathclyde
  • Former District Argyll And Bute
  • Former County Argyll

Archaeology Notes

NR71NW 4 7288 1937 and 7289 1939.

Two portions of a cross-shaft, similar to that described on NR71NW 5, are in Kilkerran cemetery. The lower portion has been re-erected on the site of the old church (NR71NW 2). If re-assembled the shaft would measure 2.03m in height and would taper in width from 0.31m at the base to 0.24m at the top, and in thickness from 0.14m at the base to 0.08m at the top.

Front: At the top of the shaft there is an inscription in Lombardic capitals. The text reads: HEC E / ST CR / VX CA / LENI / M(A)CHEA / CHYR / NA ET / KATI / RINE / VXOR / IS E / IVS ("This is the cross of Colin MacEachern and his wife Katherine"). Below the inscription there is a pair of shears with a plain rectangular tablet to the right of it. Then follow in succession a man and a women embracing in a niche, a mounted warrior, and a galley.

Back: The decoration comprises in descending order a square plait incorporating ring-twists, a representation of the Crucifixion, and two intertwined foliaceous stems terminating an a griffin and another beast. Right Edge: A leaf-scroll ending at the bottom in a dragon's head, and changing in the upper half of the shaft to at T-fret.

Left Edge: A three-cord ribbon plait giving place in the upper portion of the stone to a straight feet.

The man named in the inscription was probably the Colin MacEachern who was chief of the MacEacherns of Killellan in 1499. This Colin survived until the early years of the 16th century, but the cross, like similar monuments, was no doubt erected during his lifetime. A date before 1500 is likely.

G Callander 1926; J Stuart 1867; A McKerral 1948; RCAHMS 1971, visited 1967.

The lower portion of this cross stands in the ground at NR 7289 1937, while the detached upper portion leans against the cemetery wall at NR 7273 1946.

4 OS photos - AO/63/0686 - O688, 0692.

Visited by OS (RDL) 11 March 1963.

The Ordnance Survey surveyor's grid reference for the lower part of the cross shaft appears to be erroneous, as RCAHMS (1971) states that the lower portion had been re-erected on the site of the old church. The grid reference should therefore read NR 7289 1938.

Information from RCAHMS (MMD) 21 April 1998.

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