The Crosshall Cross [1] is a wheel-headed cross at Crosshall Farm, Eccles, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, in historic Berwickshire.
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The cross is situated in a field close to a road about 350 metres south-west of Crosshall farmhouse [2] and is said to date from the 12th century, after the Second Crusade. It is 452 centimetres (14 ft 10 inches) [3] in height and is thought to commemorate someone who had been to the Holy Land. The coat of arms may be that of the Soulis family.
Descriptions of this monument differ greatly as to which images are recognisable on the various faces of this structure, but some authors report a host of details. A selection of reports:
- The 1854 edition of "The Imperial gazetteer of Scotland; or, Dictionary of Scottish topography", Section "Berwickshire", page 163, 1st full chapter, line 4 states: "... In the parish of Eccles, at Crosshall, there is an upright stone column, with various sculptures; but there is no inscription, nor is there any tradition concerning it." [4]
- James Hardy (1882-84) described the cross in the late nineteenth century as: "One of the best preserved of the ancient historical monuments of the Merse district". [2]
- In 2006, the cross was described as such: "a male figure and a hound on one face and a Latin cross on the other; one of the sides has a cross and the other a sword. Shields with unidentified arms are carved on one face and one side, just below the cross-head." [2]
A collection of photographs, sketches, and paintings of the Cross from various angles may be viewed at canmore.org.uk: Depictions of the Crosshall, Eccles Cross.
On the opposite (northern) side of the road that passes the cross once stood a row of houses, now demolished (2024). An older painting from the above stated Canmore website depicts two entrances to adjacent, presumably thatched roof houses. [5] A series of photographs taken years later from behind the cross display a row of at least 5, then slate-roofed houses. [6] [7]
Other places nearby include Fogo, Gavinton, the Greenknowe Tower, Greenlaw, Hume Castle, Leitholm, Longformacus, Polwarth, Westruther.