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Latitude: 56.039 / 56°2'20"N
Longitude: -5.4321 / 5°25'55"W
OS Eastings: 186304
OS Northings: 688215
OS Grid: NR863882
Mapcode National: GBR DDZR.DM2
Mapcode Global: WH0JB.JGJS
Entry Name: St Margaret's Church, cross 9m W of, Lochgilphead
Scheduled Date: 26 February 2003
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Source ID: SM10398
Schedule Class: Cultural
Category: Crosses and carved stones: cross (free-standing)
Location: Glassary
County: Argyll and Bute
Electoral Ward: Mid Argyll
Traditional County: Argyllshire
The monument comprises a free-standing cross, sited within the grounds of St Margaret's Roman Catholic Church in Argyll Street, Lochgilphead. The cross previously stood until about 1969 in a rockery garden at Kilmory Castle.
It can, however, be identified with a cross, described by Martin and Muir, which at some time before 1901 was removed to 'Argyllshire' from the island of Vallay, which was then part of the North Uist estate of the Orde family of Kilmory. This identification is confirmed by the material used, a dark hornblende-schist, apparently of Hebridean origin.
The cross is 1.27m in visible height by about 90mm in average thickness, and the shaft tapers from 0.34m at ground level to 0.28m below the cross-head. It has been cruciform, with a somewhat irregular top arm, but the upper part of the right edge, including the side-arm, has been trimmed, probably for domestic re-use.
The left arm, however, is substantially complete, with a projection of about 60mm, and the smoothed and slightly rounded armpits are preserved except for that below the right arm. Within each of the armpits, and opening into them as if to link with an edge-moulding, there are incised rings, about 100mm in diameter, which define four circular mouldings with 40mm pierced centres.
The front surface, which now faces NW, is irregular, but no other ornament can be identified. The area to be scheduled comprises the cross which is located 9.1m WSW of the W door of St Margaret's Roman Catholic Church, Lochgilphead, as marked in red on the accompanying map. The modern base on which the cross stands is excluded from the scheduling.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
The monument is of national importance as one of the few surviving early medieval crosses from the Outer Hebrides and for its potential to provide important art-historical information on this group of monuments.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Bibliography
RCAHMS records the monument as NR88NE 18.
References:
RCAHMS 1992, INVENTORY OF ARGYLL: VOL 7 MID ARGYLL AND COWAL - MEDIEVAL AND LATER MONUMENTS, Edinburgh: HMSO, 203-4.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
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