The Ruthwell Cross is decorated with vine-scroll patterns on the two narrow sides and figure panels on the two broad sides. Most of the figure scenes are identified by Latin inscriptions and passages from a poem on the cross [needs a cross-reference to a discussion of the relationship between the two texts of the poem] are inscribed in runic letters on the borders of the vine-scroll panels on the lower part of the cross-shaft [For the inscriptions see D. Howlett, 'Inscriptions and design of the Ruthwell Cross', in The Ruthwell Cross, ed. B. Cassidy (Princeton, 1992), 71-93]. Much of the decoration is in a bad state, partly as a result of weathering and partly as a result of damage done when the cross was pulled down in 1642 on the orders of the Assembly of the Church of Scotland; the cross-bar has been replaced by a modern carving which has no authority, the upper arm of the cross-head has been replaced the wrong way round and the upper part of the shaft, immediately below the cross-head, is incomplete.The cross consists of two parts. The upper section comprises the cross-head itself, of which only the upper and lower arms remain, one figure panel on each of the broad sides of the cross and a vine-scroll panel on each of the narrow sides. The lower section is carved with a single panel of vine-scroll ornament on each of the narrow sides and four figure scenes on each of the broad sides. The vine-scroll designs on the narrow sides of the cross do not continue over the join between the two sections and the figure panels above and below the join have separate frames, suggesting that the upper part of the present cross may have been a replacement for an earlier cross-head placed immediately above the join. The carving of the crucifixion at the base of the south side and the badly damaged carving at the base of the north side may also have been later additions, since the vine-scroll panels on the lower section of the cross do not continue right down to the base.
Written by Barbara Raw June 1994