TRANSACTIONS. 53 
a Photograph of the Shark exhibited by Mr Hastings at the 
November meeting ; Tokens of Kirkmahoe Parish from Mr W. G. 
Gibson ; a Wasp’s Nest from Mr Hume of Cherrytrees. Mr J. 
W. Dods presented a Roman Coin found in Egypt by one of the 
soldiers during the recent campaign. 
COMMUNICATIONS. 
I. Zhe Kirkmadrine Crosses. By Mr James G. H. STARKE, 
M.A., F.S.A., of Troqueer Holm. 
The Kirkmadrine Crosses have never been the subject of a 
paper before this Society, and as I went to see them last summer 
it occurred to me that you might be glad to have an account of 
their history, characteristics, and present condition. They were 
first brought to public notice in 1872 by a paper read before the 
Scottish Society of Antiquaries in Edinburgh by Dr Mitchell, who 
had accidentally discovered and examined them with the skill of a 
scientist some years previously. They are the oldest and only 
monuments of their kind in Scotland with the exception of one 
other, also situated in Wigtownshire, near to Whithorn. But 
they are fast gomg to destruction, and one of my objects this 
evening is to awaken the interest which has too long slumbered 
regarding them, in order that something may be done for their 
better preservation in future. 
There are hundreds of monoliths with crosses incised upon 
them scattered throughout Great Britain, but only about half-a- 
dozen similar to those at Kirkmadrine, in having the sacred 
monogram of Christ upon them, and in peculiar characteristics 
which enable us to determine their date as being not later than the 
7th century. The Rhind Lectures, delivered by Dr Anderson in 
1879-80, and by Mr Romilly Allen in 1885 (since published) 
satisfy the mind of the most exacting student that these Kirk- 
madrine Crosses, as they are called, belong to a very early date 
after the introduction of Christianity into Scotland, not later, they 
believe, than the 7th century. They are probably older than the 
Ruthwell Cross, which, with its beautiful ornamentation and poetic 
lines from Caedmon, speak of an advanced art and literature 
derived from the teaching of Paulinus in Northumberland A.D. 625, 
while these Kirkmadrine crosses display a simpler and earlier style, 
derived from Rome through Gaul by St. Ninian and his followers. 
Imay here mention that Kirkmadrine was one of several small 
parishes long ago merged in the modern parish of Stoneykirk, the 
