← Culture & Heritage

Crux Guriat Cross Slab (Manx Cross 69)

Archaeology

This large slab was found at Ballaterson (IOMHER 0599.00). It was moved to the nearby roadside hedge before 1841, and thence to the parish churchyard in 1894. The slab bears five raised bosses laid at equal distance in the form of a cross. The bosses are surrounded by a double ring, which is supported on a shaft rising from a flat pedestal, so as to create a wheel-headed cross on a narrow shaft. The creation of this large memorial would have been a truly monumental task as its design required the whole of one face of the stone to be dressed back to a considerable depth so that the five bosses would stand in relief.


The design is most unusual for the Isle of Man, and its nearest parallels are to be found in Scotland. A short Latin inscription in Irish-Saxon letters on the right-hand edge of the stone reads 'Crux Guriat', which translates simply as "the cross of Guriat", a distinctively Brythonic personal name which hints at links with north Wales or southern Scotland.

Ballaterson

Connections

Book Chapters

  • Parish: Maughold
  • Sheading: Garff
  • Grid Ref: SC4760092600

Sources

  • Isle of Man Heritage Environment Record
← Back to Culture & Heritage