dumfries-1920/04-006

Transcription

HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.

The Report on the Ruthwell Cross occupies a considerable part of this volume,
and is so wide in its scope that your Commissioners think it desirable to preface it
with a few words of explanation. This famous monument is an object of quite
exceptional interest, attracting much attention not only among British but also
among Continental and American scholars. In the three years 1912 to 1914, no
fewer than three books, and at least nine articles or pamphlets, appeared on the
subject in England and the United States, and since then these numbers have been
materially increased. In all these publications arguments regarding the date and
provenance of the monument were based on the figure and ornamental sculpture and
on the inscriptions in Runic and Latin characters, as well as on the historical and
geographical probabilities for or against this or that theory of origin. Such being
the case, it has seemed to your Commissioners that, while it is the first part of
their duty to describe with as much fulness and accuracy as possible the Ruthwell
Cross in all its aspects, it is incumbent on them also to supply the available in-
formation, archaeological linguistic, and historical, without which no reasoned opinion
can be formed as to the date and provenance of this remarkable specimen of
medieval art.
With this purpose in view, the necessary references have been made to the similar
monument at Bewcastle in Cumberland, of which illustrations have been added for
comparison. The Commissioners have further availed themselves of the aid of
Mr A. Blyth Webster, formerly Lecturer in English in the University of Edinburgh,
now Professor of English Literature in the University of St Andrews, who has
furnished them with an examination of the language and literary content of the
poem inscribed on the Ruthwell Cross. In this connection they desire also to
acknowledge the services of Mr Ritchie Girvan, Lecturer on the English Language
in the University of Glasgow.
During the summer of 1915 the archaeological survey of Skye and the Outer
Hebrides was carried through, and considerable progress was made with the archi-
tectural Survey of Midlothian, of which county the prehistoric survey had already
been completed. The work of the Commission was suspended in March 1916 for the
duration of the War, but since its resumption in 1919 the survey of the monuments of
East Lothian has been finished and that of Midlothian is expected to be completed
in the current year.
Your Commissioners regret that many instances have been brought to their
notice of the serious decay of historical buildings owing to neglect. The publica-
tion of County Inventories, however, having already served to bring some such cases
to the attention of proprietors and others, it is hoped that a continuation of the
series will not be without further effect in causing more care to be bestowed upon
other buildings worthy of preservation.
During the War the staff of the Commission was employed in different services
relating thereto, both the architects receiving commissions in the Royal Engineers.

HERBERT MAXWELL, Chairman.
G. BALDWIN BROWN.
THOMAS H. BRYCE.
W. T. OLDRIEVE.
THOMAS ROSS.
ALEXR. O. CURLE.
W. MACKAY MACKENZIE, Secretary.

EDINBURGH, December 1920.

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