368 On the Cross at Crosshall. By James Hardy. 



* 'It has two broad and two narrow sides ; and tapers from th.e bottom, where 

 it is 1 foot 9 inches over, to 1 foot 2 inches at the top ; the diameter of the 

 flat circular ornament on the top, being 1 foot 10 inches. On both sides of 

 the circle at the top, there is ingraved a plain cross. On the east side, a rude 

 figure of a man 4 feet 3^ inches in length, attended by a greyhound 2 feet 1 1 

 inches long. On the opposite or west side, a shield bearing three cheverons 

 [" a cheveron in the dexter and sinister chiefs, and precise middle base respec- 

 tively, "] and below, a St. John's cross, 5 feet 2 inches high. The south and 

 north sides are about a third part narrower than the east and west. On the 

 south side, the same shield is repeated, and beneath is a two-handed sword, 

 5 feet 9 inches long ; the handle 9 inches. Northside, a cross Calvary, top 

 of it inclosed in an ornament resembling a shield. The cross is 5 feet 7 

 inches high. 



The shape, size, and figure of the obelisk, resembles the carved pillar in 

 Flintshire, described in Camden's Britannia, which he esteems to be a Danish 

 monument, and not unlike one given and described by Pennant, in his Voyage 

 to the Western Isles, p. 236. 



The mixture of the heathen emblem of the dog [the editor, however, very 

 appropriately subjoins the remark that " the arcompaniment of a greyhound 

 is very common in monuments of a very late date, and by no means requires 

 being referred to pagan customs,"] with the Christian sign of the cross, give 

 room to conjecture, that it had been erected when even heathen customs had 

 not been entirely forgotten. But the shield bearing three cheverons proves, 

 that it has been set up when the science of heraldry had been pretty far ad- 

 vanced in Scotland, and after the first croisade, anno 1096, when our nobility 

 and gentry first assumed coats armorial. The bearing is of one of the simame 

 of Soules [or Soulis]. 



A family of this name flourished in Scotland, and were employed in the 

 highest offices of state for a long time, till Sir William, the head of the 

 family, wa,s tried, forfeited, and condemned by sentence of Parliament, to per- 

 petual imprisonment, for a conspiracy against Eobert Bruce, anno 1320 [see 

 Nisbet, Fordun, and Index to Anderson's Diplomata, etc.] 



The repetition of so many crosses probably shows that the person, whose 

 monument this is, had been at the holy war. The fir.'t time that any num- 

 ber of the Scots went to these wars, was to the second croisade, anno 1144, and 

 likely Soules among others. And we know that, much about this time 

 the nunnery of Eccles, situated about a quarter of a mile 

 distant from this obelisk, was founded anno 1154. It is very probable, 

 therefore, that this monument was erected after the year 1154. 



The sword on the southside exhibits a true representation of the ancient 

 two handed sword ; and it is of the precise dimensions of that one given to 

 the Society by Mr Wight, and mentioned in the minutes of the Society, May 

 1781, donation 44. 



The delineation of this sword is a proof that this monument has been erected 

 while these two handed swords were in use, and resembles the swords repre- 

 sented upon the great seals of Scotland, and the seals of the great Barons ; 

 especially those from 1124, to the time of David Bruce, in 1329. 



I therefore ofEer a conjecture, that this obelisk is the monument of the 

 father of Sir John de Soules, Lieutenant or Viceroy to John Baliol [see 



