DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6910#0099
ANCIENT STONE CROSSES.
63
stone,* and was doubtless so called, because worshipped by the Canaanites.f In
the Isle of Barray there is one stone, about seven feet high, and when the inhabi-
tants come near it, they take a religious turn round, according to the ancient Druid X
custom."§
It is not an easy task to persuade the illiterate to relinquish an old custom : for in
proportion as the mind is uninformed, so is the man obstinate. We therefore cease to
wonder at the slow advances of Christianity, when we reflect on the probable state
of the human race in this country, and on the influence of Druidism at that period.
To combat these, required great zeal and perseverance in the new missionaries,
who, as a memento to their new converts, appear to have enforced their creed with
representations of the cross, and other symbolical carvings. The former was first
cut on the top of single upright stones : afterwards the shaft was ornamented, and its
sculpture varied, in different parts of the country, according to the skill or fancy of the
person who raised it. In Scotland, Wales, Cumberland, Cornwall, and some other English
counties, many of these relics of antiquity are still remaining; and serve to shew the
shapes generally used, and the ornaments most commonly applied to them. They
appear to have been erected for various purposes; but the greater part may be
classed under the following heads.—Memorials of designation, or boundary objects
of demarcation, for property, parishes, and sanctuary :—sepulchral mementos :—me-
morials of battles, murder, and fatal events :—places of public prayer and proclama-
tion :—some were also placed by the road side, in church-yards, in market places,
at the junction of three or four streets or roads, and on spots where the body of a
deceased person halted in the way to interment. It was a common practice for
mendicants to station themselves by the side of these, and beg alms in the name of
Jesus." ||
Though the canons of Christianity strictly forbid every species of idolatrous wor-
ship, yet when that religion was in its infancy, and Paganism had numerous avowed
votaries, it is extremely probable that many rites and ceremonies, peculiar to either,
* See State of Downe, p. 209.
t Mr. Martin, in his " Description of the Western Islands, p. 88 and 229, thinks them called bowing-stones,
because the Christians had there the first view of their church, at which place, therefore, they first bowed them-
selves ; but this custom is much more ancient than Christianity.
t Martin's Western Islands.
§ Antiquities of Cornwall, 2d edition, p. 162, &c.
II A provincial proverb, still retained in the North of England, alludes to this custom, by remarking of a
Person who is very urgent in his entreaties, that " He begs like a cripple at a cross."
63
stone,* and was doubtless so called, because worshipped by the Canaanites.f In
the Isle of Barray there is one stone, about seven feet high, and when the inhabi-
tants come near it, they take a religious turn round, according to the ancient Druid X
custom."§
It is not an easy task to persuade the illiterate to relinquish an old custom : for in
proportion as the mind is uninformed, so is the man obstinate. We therefore cease to
wonder at the slow advances of Christianity, when we reflect on the probable state
of the human race in this country, and on the influence of Druidism at that period.
To combat these, required great zeal and perseverance in the new missionaries,
who, as a memento to their new converts, appear to have enforced their creed with
representations of the cross, and other symbolical carvings. The former was first
cut on the top of single upright stones : afterwards the shaft was ornamented, and its
sculpture varied, in different parts of the country, according to the skill or fancy of the
person who raised it. In Scotland, Wales, Cumberland, Cornwall, and some other English
counties, many of these relics of antiquity are still remaining; and serve to shew the
shapes generally used, and the ornaments most commonly applied to them. They
appear to have been erected for various purposes; but the greater part may be
classed under the following heads.—Memorials of designation, or boundary objects
of demarcation, for property, parishes, and sanctuary :—sepulchral mementos :—me-
morials of battles, murder, and fatal events :—places of public prayer and proclama-
tion :—some were also placed by the road side, in church-yards, in market places,
at the junction of three or four streets or roads, and on spots where the body of a
deceased person halted in the way to interment. It was a common practice for
mendicants to station themselves by the side of these, and beg alms in the name of
Jesus." ||
Though the canons of Christianity strictly forbid every species of idolatrous wor-
ship, yet when that religion was in its infancy, and Paganism had numerous avowed
votaries, it is extremely probable that many rites and ceremonies, peculiar to either,
* See State of Downe, p. 209.
t Mr. Martin, in his " Description of the Western Islands, p. 88 and 229, thinks them called bowing-stones,
because the Christians had there the first view of their church, at which place, therefore, they first bowed them-
selves ; but this custom is much more ancient than Christianity.
t Martin's Western Islands.
§ Antiquities of Cornwall, 2d edition, p. 162, &c.
II A provincial proverb, still retained in the North of England, alludes to this custom, by remarking of a
Person who is very urgent in his entreaties, that " He begs like a cripple at a cross."