The Ruthwell and Bewcastle Crosses

Abstract

The stone crosses at Ruthwell in Dum- friesshire and at Bewcastle in Cumberland are probably the most discussed pieces of sculpture in the British Isles (PLS. XLI-XLII). It is right that they should be, for they have a artistic content that is high by any standards, they wholly outclass any possible contemporaries in Western Europe, and they are among the earliest examples of a notable and long-lasting form of Saxon art. Moreover, they are not only of importance to the art-historian but to the historian as well, for they have qualities that tell us a great deal about the culture, the religious feelings and even the political development of the society that erected them. It is therefore a matter of more than ordinary concern to establish, as firmly as the evidence allows, their date and their origin. All but one of the major critics of the last forty years-J. Br~ndsted, Sir Alfred Clapham, Sir Thomas Kendrick, Mr Lawrence Stone and Mr Ralegh Radford-are agreed that they are of the late 7th century, or at the latest of the first decade of the 8th. Only W. G. Collingwood has proposed a different date, in the mid-late 8th century, and he has had no supporters.