<< Our Photo Pages >> Monks Rig, Font Stone - Ancient Cross in Scotland in Midlothian
Submitted by uisdean on Monday, 30 April 2007 Page Views: 11168
Early Medieval (Dark Age)Site Name: Monks Rig, Font StoneCountry: Scotland
NOTE: This site is 3.841 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Midlothian Type: Ancient Cross
Nearest Town: Penicuik Nearest Village: Nine Mile Burn
Map Ref: NT17585919
Latitude: 55.818903N Longitude: 3.316945W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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Ancient Cross in Midlothian
The Font Stone (NT17585919) lies on the crest of the Monks Rig in the Pentland Hills, by the old track through the hills from South Queensferry to Loganlee – the Monks Road. It is a roughly shaped rectangular block of Silurian grit stone measuring some 4 ft by 2 ft 8 ins with a rectangular cavity inside some 20 inches by 12 inches, and some 9 inches deep.
Despite its name, the stone is apparently not a font but a cross base. FR Coles, writing in the Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 33, 1898-9, 334-6, quotes an earlier author (Mr R Cameron, 1808) as referring to ‘the top of the cross…now lying at the bottom of the hill.’ Coles also noted two circular hollows on its eastern edge of the stone, which Cameron surmised were for the knees of pilgrims.
The site commands an extensive view to the south, and would have been an ideal place for a cross.
In 1833, two shepherds found some copper coins under the stone. The tradition continues of placing coins as offerings in the hollow; on my visit there were 2 pennies and a 5p piece.
For more information see Canmore ID 50169, which dates this cross base to the early medieval.
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