Ruthwell
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From Caerlaverock, it's about seven miles east along the B725 to the village of RUTHWELL whose modest country church houses the remarkable eighteen-foot Ruthwell Cross (the keys are kept at one of the houses at the foot of the lane; look out for the information notice). An extraordinary early Christian monument from the early or mid-eighth century when Galloway was ruled by the Northumbrians, the cross was considered idolatrous during the Reformation, smashed to pieces and buried. Only in the nineteenth century was the cross finally reassembled and given its own purpose-built semicircular apse. The decoration on the cross reveals a strikingly sophisticated style and iconography, probably derived from the eastern Mediterranean. The main inscriptions are in Latin, but running round the edge is a poem written in the Northumbrian dialect in runic figures. However, it's the biblical carvings on the main face that really catch the eye, notably Mary Magdalene washing the feet of Jesus.
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