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MHG8562 - Cross of the Ness

Summary

Hexagonal stone shaft

Type and Period (1)

Protected Status

Full Description

NH75NW 2 7417 5638.
Cross (NR) Tradition says that here the last witch in Scotland was burnt (NAT).
OS 25" map, Ross-shire, (1905)

Cross of Ness (NR) OS 6" map, (1959)

This is the Cross of the Ness (Info from C G MacDowall, Town Clerk, Fortrose), the remains consisting of a circular stone shaft 1ft in diameter, that stood about 5ft high in 1871.
Name Book 1871.

The remains of a circular stone shaft, reduced to a height of 0.5m, situated on Fortrose golf course. According to Mr Frazer, a retired bank manager (Clifton, Rosemarkie) with a knowledge of local history and place names, it is called "Coinneach Odhar Stone" after the local prophet Kenneth MacKenzie who, it was reputed, was burnt here. This name is also used in local tourist guide.
Mr C G MacDowall, although confirming the name "Cross of the Ness", nevertheless appeared unsure of facts, and may be an unreliable authority.
Visited by OS (NKB) 1 March 1966.

Cross shaft; tradition that last witch in Scotland burnt here. On the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Ross and Cromarty, sheet xc; 1881).
Later 1st Mill AD?
CFA/MORA Coastal Assessment Survey 1998.

The cathedral …stood upon the bluff overlooking Fortrose Bay and could be seen for miles away. It accounts also for the ring of crosses of which the cathedral was the focal point – one at Corslet above Rosemarkie to the north, one on the Ness or peninsula to the east, its site still known as the Cross of the Ness, and another at Crosshill near Avoch to the west, where the old road over the Muir from Munlochy came in sight of the Cathedral – all placed where travellers coming in sight of the venerated building fell on their knees to offer thanks for a journey so far safely completed. In the case of the Cross of the Ness, the travellers in question had just come ashore from the ferry boat which had taken them across the Firth from Ardersier….For all we know, the crosses might have been originally erected to enable devout travellers to venerate the earlier Pictish monastery which may have stood near the sight of the later Cathedral. <1>

Sources/Archives (2)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NH 7416 5638 (10m by 10m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NH75NW
Geographical Area	ROSS AND CROMARTY
Civil Parish	ROSEMARKIE

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