Cross 73[57] Kirk Lonan Wheel-headed Cross-slab
Kirk Lonan Wheel-headed Cross-slab and socket 73[57]
This large cross-slab stands five feet seven inches above its socket stone and is a little over three feet in width. Whereas the other Lonan crosses are displayed in a purpose built shelter in a corner of the churchyard of the Lonan Old church of St. Adamnan, this imposing slab remains in what is probably its original position in the churchyard of the old keeill.
It is decorated with interlaced knots and plaits. P.M.C. Kermode succeeded in tracing the plaiting and found it to consist of a remarkable nineteen separate strands. The socket, into which the base of the cross is inserted and which supports it, is cut into a rough slab of slate. It is a rare opportunity of seeing a Manx cross-slab set into its socket stone in which it has stood for perhaps eleven hundred years.
Mrs Richards notes that -
"..this splendid leaning cross in its beautiful and peaceful surroundings is well worth a visit. Only one side is carved and is rather weathered. It shows a Celtic cross and circle. Across the shaft are four sunken plaits of three and four alternatively. The cross is made up of approximately nineteen straps, making it difficult to decipher. It is however a very splendid piece of carving".