Kirkcolm - Viking Carved Stones
This design on this magnificent 10th-century Christian stone cross combines Christian and pagan Scandinavian images, reflecting Galloway's connections with its Viking and Celtic past.
The cross originally stood close to St Mary's Chapel, south of Kirkcolm, but was moved to the grounds of Corsewall House in the last century. The cross was re-erected in the Kirkcolm churchyard in 1989. One face of the stone has an elaborately carved cross above a design of intertwined animal bodies. The snake-like heads of some of the animals can still be seen. On the reverse-side is a representation of the Crucifixion. Below is a figure of a man with a pair of tongs and a bird on his shoulder; this is probably Sigurid, a super-hero from Viking mythology. It is thought the carvings on the Kilmorie Stone show the triumph of Christianity over paganism.
Carvings of Sigurd also appear on Viking-period crosses in Cumbria and Lancashire suggesting the people who put up the Kilmorie Stone may have been in contact with other Scandinavian communities south of the Solway.
Contact
The Curator
Kirkcolm Church/church yard
Stranraer
Dumfries & Galloway
DG9 0NW
Scotland
Tel: +44 (1776) 705088
WWW: http://www.erviekirkcolmchurch.com
