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Camus Cross

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Coordinates:56°31′50″N2°47′01″W/ 56.530647°N 2.783570°W/56.530647; -2.783570
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This article is about the Class III standing stone in Angus. For the Crofting township on the Isle of Skye, seeCamuscross.

Camus Cross
The Camus Cross, East face
MaterialOld Red Sandstone
Height2 metres (6.6 ft)
Symbols
  • Christ and evangelists
  • Crucifixion (weathered)
  • Centaur
  • Foliar designs
CreatedTenth CenturyCE
Present locationCamuston Wood, nearCarnoustie,Angus,Scotland
Coordinates56°31′50″N2°47′01″W/ 56.530647°N 2.783570°W/56.530647; -2.783570
ClassificationType III, freestanding cross
CulturePicto-Scottish

TheCamus Cross,otherwise known as theCamustonorCamustane Cross,is anEarly Medieval Scottishstanding stoneon thePanmure EstatenearCarnoustieinAngus, Scotland.First recorded in the 15th century in a legal document describing the boundaries betweenCamustonand the barony of Downie, and described in the 17th century by Robert Maule, it is afreestanding cross,rare in Eastern Scotland.

The cross is thought to date from the 10th century, and exhibits distinctiveHiberno-Scottish missioninfluences, in common with several other monuments in the area. Tradition andfolk etymologysuggest that the cross marked the burial site ofCamus,leader of the Norse army purportedly defeated by KingMalcolm IIat the apocryphalBattle of Barry.The name of the stone is likely to derive from the extinctvillage of Camuston,which has aCeltictoponymy.

Location

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The Camus Cross is in theDownie Hills,approximately 4 kilometres (2.5 mi)northwestofCarnoustieinAngus, Scotland.[1]It is at the centre of a 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) long avenue leadingeast-north-eastthrough Camuston Wood from thePanmure Testimonialto theCraigtontoCarnoustieroad, at (grid referenceNO519379). The avenue is part of Panmure Estate and leads, beyond the road, to the former site ofPanmure House.

Description

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Shaft detail, showing foliar scrolls on southern edge

The freestanding cross is carved fromOld Red Sandstoneand stands 2 metres (6.6 ft) high, approximately 0.6 metres (2.0 ft) wide at the base, 0.8 metres (2.6 ft) wide at the arms, and approximately 0.2 metres (0.66 ft) thick. It stands on a low earth mound, 7.5 metres (25 ft) wide (east to west), 4.5 metres (15 ft) wide (north to south) and 1 metre (3.3 ft) high, in the centre of the Camuston Wood avenue, facing east to west. All faces and sides are sculpted. The cross has suffered significantweathering,most notably on the west face, which has obscured some of the designs.[2]

The stone bears no idiomaticPictishsymbolsand, underJ Romilly Allenand Joseph Anderson's classification system, it is a class III stone.[3]Intact freestanding crosses of this age are comparatively rare, perhaps because of their vulnerability to damage, and the only ones in Eastern Scotland are the Camus Cross and theDupplin Crossin Strathearn. Fragmentary remains of other crosses include heads found atForteviot,St VigeansandStrathmartineand shaft fragments found atMonifieth,Abernethy,CarpowandInvermay,as well as some socketed stones where crosses once stood.[4]

The western face is divided into three sections. The uppermost section is almost completelyweathered.The antiquarianAlexander Gordon,who described the stone in 1726 in hisItinerarium Septentrionale,records this panel as holding acrucifixionscene, with the figure of a man at the right hand side and the left side completely defaced. Below this is a depiction of acentaurholding a bow, with the lowest panel having asymmetricalfloral scroll design.[5]The figures to the left and right are likely to have representedLonginusandStephaton.[6]

The Brechin Hogback

The eastern face is usually interpreted as a depiction ofChristflanked byangelsabove thefour evangelists,[7]although Robert Maule, in the earliest description of the stone, described the scene as Moses giving out the Law.[5]

Thecarvingon the Camus Cross shows distinct similarities with those on theBrechinHogbackstone and point to an Irish Ecclesiastical influence. The foliar designs on the north and south edges, originally seen asRingerike-like (and hence,Scandinavianin origin), consist oftendrilsandvoluteswith "wave-crest" thickening. These features bear closest similarity with Irishinsular artof the late tenth century, and the treatment of the symmetrical foliar scroll design on the lower portion of the west face is diagnostically Irish. The full-face figures on the east face are of an identical type to those on the Brechin Hogback. In the case of the Brechin Hogback, the figures are carrying objects that are characteristic ofearly medieval Irishmonasticism.[8]

History

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The Camus Cross, west face
Avenue leading to Camus Cross

The Camus Cross is currently thought to be a latePictish/early Gaelic era monument, dating from the 10th century.[9]The earliest record of it is in a legal document of 1481, describing the boundary of the lands ofCamuston,owned by Sir Thomas Maule, and the barony of Downy, owned by the Earl of Crawford. The boundary was described as running "a magna cruce lapidea de Cambiston"('from the great stone cross of Camuston').[10]It was mentioned in the context of theBattle of BarryinHector Boece'sHistoria Gentis Scotorumin 1527,[11]and first described in detail by the antiquarian Robert Maule, who erected it at its present position in 1620, after moving it six feet to centralise it within the Camuston Wood avenue.[12]

The croce standis southe and northe, sa the bread syd thear of the ane to the east and the wther to the west; that syd quhilk lowkes to the east is dewydit be mwllers of steane in thre stages; the firs and hiest part quharof is the portrait of ane man, rudlie vroght in reasit work, at the southe arme quharof as apperis, the figure of ane fowle, to the quhilk the handis neir; the second sectione or stage hes tua pourtraits of men lyk to the first, vithe the forme of ane quadrat or four noket breist plat on thear breist, lyk wnto that quhar withe Moses is painted, in the quhilk wes ingrawen the nems of the tuel tribes of Israel, and lykuayes the lawest and thrid rank efter the sam maner. On thear heads thay heawe clos bonnets twrnand hard thearto, quhilk appeirandly is Moses representine the lawe befor the cominge of Christ, and thearfor ar set towardis the east as representine the begininge and infancie of the world; then on the west syd in the first rank and hiest is the Crucifix. opposit to Moses, signifiinge the latter dayes to approche and the declyninge age. In the second rank wnder the Crucifix ane man on hors bak, lyand bak owir, drawand ane bowe, the head of the arrowe wery grytm that it semes rather to be ane bolt then arrowe, albeit the bowe dois rather appeir to be ane hand bow nor cros bowe. In the lawest and thrid rank tehar is only the draught of ane floure, weil done, wpone aa rud ane stone. On the southe and northe sydes of the sam, quhar the croce is mor narrowe, ane prettie work efter the forme that browdinsters do vse[...][13]

Camuswas the supposed leader of aNorseexpeditionary force defeated by the armies of King Malcolm II at the Battle of Barry. Tradition, popularised in the sixteenth century by historianHector Boece,states that Camus fled the battle scene when defeat was imminent, and was caught and slain at the point where the cross now stands. The battle, and its main protagonists, including Camus, are now known to be historically inauthentic.[14]

The name of the cross is likely to derive from the village of Camuston. No trace of this village can be seen today, and it had ceased to exist by the time of the firstOrdnance Surveymap, published in 1888, but surveyed in 1857 to 1859.[15]Its former location is indicated in the 1794 map by Ainslie, about half a mile to the east of the cross.[16]Camuston can be found with earlier spelling variations, for example, 'Cambistown' as it is called in documents from 1425 and 1426,[17]and has a Celtic rather than Scandinavian etymology.[18]

A burial disinterred in 1598, near the Camus cross, was attributed by Maule as being the body of Camus:

Not far thearfra in the bank of Camstone, the zeir of God Imfywe hundrethe nyntie and aught zeiris, thear wos ane greawe fownd withe ane bread stone on eury quarter thearof efter the forme of ane malt cobile, quharin did ly the heale bons of ane man of gryt statwre, the thee bone quharof ves neir als longue as bothe the schank and thee bone of any reasonable man of this age, the harne pan gryte, and vanted the palme bread of ane hand thearof, quhilk had beine the straik as appeirithe of ane sword, it wes thought to heawe beine Cames the chief mans bwriel.[13]

Little information of the burial exists, but goods found in the cist were kept atBrechin Castle.These were sketched by Jervise and are typical ofBronze Ageartifacts, found fairly commonly in the area.[12]

References

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Citations

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  1. ^Ordnance Survey, Great Britain (2007), "Dundee and Montrose, Forfar and Arbroath",Ordnance SurveyLandranger Map(B2 ed.),ISBN978-0-319-22980-4
  2. ^"Camus's Cross, site record",Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland,retrieved29 July2010
  3. ^Allen & Anderson 1903,p. 26
  4. ^Borland, J.; Fraser, I.; Sherriff, J. (2007), "Eight socketed stones from Eastern Scotland",Tayside and Fife Archaeological Journal,13:107
  5. ^ab Gordon, A (1726). "Itinerarium Septentirionale p 154-155.". InGuthrie, W.(ed.).A general history of Scotland: from the earliest accounts to the present time, Volume 1.London: Robinson and Roberts.Retrieved27 July2010.
  6. ^Henderson & Henderson 2011,p. 145
  7. ^Anderson, Joseph (1881),Scotland in Early Christian Times - The Rhind Lectures in Archaeology for 1880,Edinburgh: David Douglas, pp. 156–157,ISBN978-1-4446-0917-2,retrieved29 November2010
  8. ^Lang, J.T. (April 1972),"Hogback monuments in Scotland"(PDF),Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland,105:206–235,doi:10.9750/PSAS.105.206.235,S2CID182271630,retrieved29 July2010
  9. ^Walker, B; Ritchie, G (1996),Exploring Scotland's Heritage: Fife, Perthshire and Angus(2 ed.), Edinburgh: HMSO (Her Majesty's Stationery Office), p. 138
  10. ^Maule, Harry (1874), Stuart, John (ed.),Registrum de Panmure. Records of the families of Maule, De Valoniis, Brechin, and Brechin-Barclay, united in the line of the Barons and Earls of Panmure,Edinburgh: Fox Maule-Ramsay, p. xxiv
  11. ^Boece, Hector (1527),Historia Gentis Scotorum,vol. XI (1575 ed.),retrieved22 October2010
  12. ^ab Jervise, A (1859)."Notices descriptive of the localities of certain sculptured stone monuments in Forfarshire, viz., – Benvie, and Invergowrie; Strathmartin, and Balutheran; Monifieth; Cross of Camus, and Arbirlot. Part III"(PDF).Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.2:442–452.doi:10.9750/PSAS.002.442.452.S2CID245405073.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 11 June 2007.
  13. ^abMaule, Harry (1874), Stuart, John (ed.),Registrum de Panmure. Records of the families of Maule, De Valoniis, Brechin, and Brechin-Barclay, united in the line of the Barons and Earls of Panmure,Edinburgh: Fox Maule-Ramsay, pp. xciv–xcv
  14. ^"Carnoustie, Battle of Barry: Battle site (possible)",Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland: Canmore Database,retrieved30 September2010
  15. ^"Sheet 49 – Arbroath",Ordnance Survey, One-inch to the mile maps of Scotland 1st Edition – 1856–1891,1888,retrieved14 October2010
  16. ^Ainslie, J. (1794),Map of the county of Forfar or Shire of Angus,archived fromthe originalon 5 September 2012,retrieved2 September2008
  17. ^ Jervise, A.(1861).Memorials of Angus and the Mearns: being an account, historical, antiquarian, and traditionary of the castles and towns visited by Edward I and the barons, clergy and others who swore fealty to England in 1291-6.Edinburgh: Adam & Charles Black.
  18. ^ Worsaae, J.J.A. (1852).An account of the Danes and Norwegians in England, Scotland and Ireland.London: John Murray. p.210.camus battle of barry.

Bibliography

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  • Allen, J.R.; Anderson, J. (1903),Early Christian Monuments of Scotland,Balgavies, Angus: Pinkfoot Press (1993 facsimile)
  • Henderson, George; Henderson, Isabel (2011),The Art of the Picts: Sculpture and Metalwork in Early Medieval Scotland,London: Thames and Hudson,ISBN978-0-500-28963-1
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