1R2 NOTES ON CHURCH AND BARONY OF LINTON 



One thing alone seems certain, that the Somerville stone 

 has faced wind and weather here, for more than seven cen- 

 turies. The rudeness of the sculptured figures, the horseman, 

 the dove, and the dragon on the ground, all bespeak for it 

 an early date ; though not so early, perhaps, as that often 

 assigned. Some, carrying us back beyond even the first 

 plantation of our Holy Faith, have connected this mound 

 with the pre-historic serpent- worship, and its high places, 

 and it is still an open question whether the legend begat 

 the sculpture, or the sculpture the legend. Thus the problem 

 stands, unsolved, perhaps insoluble. 



