Capelrig
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of a single object from Capelrig in East Renfrewshire. It dates from about 500 to 1000, in the early medieval period. This collection comprises the Capelrig Cross, a surviving 2.4m shaft of a free-standing stone cross, of which the head is missing, and base. Carved from blonde sandstone, the cross-shaft is decorated with rectangular, framed panels of interlace ornamentation on all four faces, although these are extremely worn and weathered. The shaft was fixed to the base with packing material of fine gravel and clay. The cross-shaft was located in a field at Holm Farm, in the parish of Mearns, until 1926 when it was removed to Glasgow Museums. During its removal, a series of slabs were encountered to the south and east of the cross, suggesting that a path originally lead to the site. Free-standing crosses, or ‘high crosses’, were a significant artistic product of the early Irish church, exemplified by the major crosses of Iona, and were the predominant sculptural type in the Strathclyde area during the 10th and 11th centuries. While in Ireland their distribution is primarily monastic, there is no clear indication of an ecclesiastical context for many of the Strathclyde crosses, including the Capelrig Cross.
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