Mr. Dickson on Rothbury and its Saxon Cross. 73 



We have also the Stane Cross (the Hurl stone) at Chilling- 

 ham and other March " Stains," set up, no doubt, as bound- 

 aries in very early times. — (Hodg. pt. iii., vol. ii., p. 119.) 



Mr. Hodgson had not got as far north as Rothbury with 

 his history, and, therefore, what is known about Rothbury is 

 chiefly found in the Close and Quo Warranto rolls : 

 2 Wallis 515. 



1 Hutchinson 227. 



2 Mackenzie 50, (Ed. 1825.) 



To give a history of Crosses in this paper would make it 

 run to too great a length, but the proceedings of the Archseo- 

 logical Institute are full of information about them. They 

 were erected by the sides of roads, on boundaries and in church 

 yards ; and as the weary pilgrim and the devotee approached 

 one of them, down they knelt and oifered up a short and 

 anxious prayer of thanks for preservation and for success in 

 some object to be accomplished. 



No doubt before this antique cross at Rothbury many an 

 anxious prayer has been offered up, and many a knee has 

 bent before those sculptured emblems ; forgetting the positive 

 injunctions of Holy writ to the contrary : 



" Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image ^ or any 

 likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth 

 beneath, or that is in the water under the earth : Thou shalt 

 not bow down thyself to them " — (20 Exodus, 4 and 5.) 



Some fancy the sculpture in Rothbury church represents 

 the day of Judgment, but whether this be so, or it means to 

 record the ascension of our Lord into heaven, the members of 

 our Club will, I hope, have an opportunity of judging for 

 themselves, as well as of enjoying the exhilarating freshness 

 of the mountain air, in this most healthy district. 



WM. DICKSON. 



Alnwick, May, 1858. 



Efi 



