St Ninian's Cave Stone Inscriptions
RCAHMS surveyed St Ninian's cave in 2004, at the request of Historic Scotland, and the results of the survey document the fascinating range of religious markings which are present in the rock walls. A total of 25 Christian crosses and symbols are incised into the south and east walls of the cave, which is some 10m deep and 3-7m high (the black and white section image gives an idea of relative scale).
An early stage of the survey method used is also illustrated, with an RCAHMS surveyor using specialised laser survey equipment to plot significant features in the rock face. This fixes the position of these features, and also pinpoints the centre of each cross, enabling the location of the carvings to be placed relative to each other and to the rock face as a whole. Detailed photographs were then taken of each carving under special lighting conditions (see the image opposite) which threw the outlines of each cross into sharp relief in preparation for the final stage of recording, which was non-contact drawing of the cave wall and of each carving to scale.
Some of these carvings had never been recorded before, including an example of the 'Chi-Rho', an early Christian symbol formed by the first two letters of Christ's name in Greek. These add to the rich Christian heritage present in the area, where Ninian began the mission of converting the Picts to Christianity sometime around AD 397. The main group of crosses probably date from the ninth century, when Whithorn was under the control of the Northumbrian kingdom, but traces of the Chi-Rho possibly also exist on the famous 'Latinus' stone found in the area (now in Whithorn museum) which dates from the mid-fifth century and is the earliest surviving Christian memorial in Scotland.
An exhibition of our work at St Ninians Cave will be open to the public at the following locations:
- until 27 Oct 2006. Holyrood Park Lodge, Edinburgh
- 6 Nov to 18 Nov 2006. Historic Scotland, Longmore House, Salisbury Place, Edinburgh
- 18 Dec 2006 to 4 Jan 2007. St. Cuthbert's, 5 Lothian Road, Edinburgh
- 8 Jan to 19 Jan 2007. New College Library, Edinburgh University, Mound Place, Edinburgh