Ruthwell Cross

About Ruthwell Cross

Admire a major monument of early medieval Europe – a magnificent 5.2m tall carved stone cross.

The Ruthwell Cross has been described as the most important sculptural survival of Anglo-Saxon Britain. It was carved in the early 700s, when this part of Scotland lay within the Anglian kingdom of Northumbria.

The cross was probably used as a preaching cross – a focus to help priests bring the Christian gospel to their flock.

Local lore says that it was probably intended for a site further down the coast – perhaps Whithorn – but the ship carrying it ran aground and so the column was brought ashore. It is believed that the actual cross was mounted on top of the column later and that sometime before the 17th century, the whole thing was moved up to Ruthwell Church.

One theory is that the column was created as a protest by Celtic monks following the Synod of Whitby when Celtic Christian practice was replaced by Roman Catholicism. This would suggest that the cross was made in 664AD when Colman, Bishop of Lindisfarne and his followers, left Whitby and returned home.
Christianity imposed itself alongside important Pagan sites but often in close proximity rather than on top of them.