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How and why the ancients enchanted Great Britain and Brittany

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Cockburnspath Cross - Ancient Cross in Scotland in Scottish Borders

Submitted by Anne T on Tuesday, 02 October 2018  Page Views: 2248

Early Medieval (Dark Age)Site Name: Cockburnspath Cross Alternative Name: Cockburnspath Mercat Cross
Country: Scotland
NOTE: This site is 2.982 km away from the location you searched for.

County: Scottish Borders Type: Ancient Cross
Nearest Town: Berwick upon Tweed  Nearest Village: Cockburnspath
Map Ref: NT7743071100
Latitude: 55.932430N  Longitude: 2.362821W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
3 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
5 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

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Anne T visited on 29th Sep 2018 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 3 Access: 5 Cockburnspath Mercat Cross: Before coming to Cockburnspath, we'd visited the really beautiful Cove, with its smuggler's caves. We'd had to park in the village and follow the single track road running along the top of the cliffs to an old mine tunnel which formed a fun, but very dark, shortcut through to the cove. The bedding planes in the rocks here were fantastic - no wonder James Hutton found the solution to his unconformities only a few miles down the coast. The harbour looks like it might have come straight off an 18th century film set, and there was also a sea arch with a large, round hole in it. Brilliant. By the time we got to Cockburnspath, only a few miles away, the light was starting to fade rapidly. Parking outside the post office (to avoid the car starring in more of my photographs!), I started to photograph the cross, only to find omeone had left a half eaten pack of McDonalds chips on the base of the stone; we ended up moving these and throwing them away in a nearby bin (yeuk). We also had a look at the churchyard, which had old grave stones, but at this time of night, couldn’t get in. The church had particularly heavy stone slabs used to roof it. We later found the same at Dunglass. The notice on the side of the cross reads: “Cockburnspath. This Cross was erected in 1503 by King James IV of Scotland in celebration of his marriage to Princess Margaret Tudor, to whom he presented the lands of Cockburnspath as a dowry. The Princess was the sister of King Henry VIII of England and this union of the Scots Thistle and the Tudor Rose was to mark the start of a new and lasting peace, only shattered ten years later by the Battle of Flodden in 1513. / The Cross was repaired with the help of the Regional Council, but mostly by the loyal generosity of the people of this village.” After seeing this cross, we hopped over the border to East Lothian to see Dunglass Collegiate Church, where we arrived to find a wedding in full swing, and needed torches to look round the inside of this ruined church. Definitely not a chance of getting to see the standing stones nearby at this time of the evening.

Cockburnspath Cross
Cockburnspath Cross submitted by Anne T : The cross, looking south west down Hoprigg Street. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Ancient Cross in Scottish Borders

This mercat or market cross is recorded as Canmore ID 58853. The cross stands in the middle of the village, at the junction of Hoprigg Street with Callander Place, opposite the entrance to St Helen's Church, in what once must have been the village green, but is now just part of the road.

The cross shaft stands 10ft 4ins high on top of a stepped base of three tiers of stone topped by a socket stone; the socket stone measures 2ft 10ins square and is 10inshigh.

Restored in 1908, it was originally erected "by King James IV of Scotland in celebration of his marriage to Princess Margaret Tudor, to whom he presented the lands of Cockburnspath as a dowry. The Princess was the sister of King Henry VIII of England and this union of the Scots Thistle and the Tudor Rose was to mark the start of a new and lasting peace, only shattered ten years later by the Battle of Flodden in 1513. / The Cross was repaired with the help of the Regional Council, but mostly by the loyal generosity of the people of this village."

The two wider faces (east and west) of the head of the cross bear the emblems of thistles; the other two faces Tudor roses.
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Cockburnspath Cross
Cockburnspath Cross submitted by Anne T : Standing just to the north west of the cross looking towards the entrance to St Helen's Church (between the two stone houses, centre left of the photo. By chance, I've almost reproduced an old photo on the Canmore record - the same houses are still there, looking very much the same. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Cockburnspath Cross
Cockburnspath Cross submitted by Anne T : The base of the cross and its socket stone are far more weathered than the rest of the cross shaft and cross head. The socket stone sits on three stepped tiers of stone; these tiers look more recent than the socket and cross. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Cockburnspath Cross
Cockburnspath Cross submitted by Anne T : The now weathered thistle of King James IV of Scotland, to be found on both the eastern and western faces of the cross head. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Cockburnspath Cross
Cockburnspath Cross submitted by Anne T : The wider faces of the cross head bears the emblems of thistles to represent King James IV of Scotland; the narrow faces bear Tudor roses, representing Princess Margaret Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII of England. This cross was erected in 1503 to commemorate their marriage, when the lands of Cockburnspath were presented to Princess Margaret as part of her dowry. (Vote or comment on this photo)

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Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
NT7771 : The Square, Cockburnspath by Billy McCrorie
by Billy McCrorie
©2013(licence)
NT7771 : Southern Upland Way by Billy McCrorie
by Billy McCrorie
©2013(licence)
NT7771 : Old Wayside Cross, The Square, Cockburnspath by Mike Rayner
by Mike Rayner
©2020(licence)
NT7771 : The Square, Cockburnspath by kim traynor
by kim traynor
©2011(licence)
NT7771 : The Cross, Cockburnspath by kim traynor
by kim traynor
©2011(licence)

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