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St Cuthbert (Bewcastle) ( Churches )

This simple building, which stands within the site of a Roman fort, was begun in the thirteenth century. The west tower is Georgian.

The north wall is windowless, which is understandable in this windswept location. The glory of Bewcastle is in the churchyard, where stands the beautifully carved eighth-century Anglo-Saxon Bewcastle Cross, 4.5 metres high, which has survived almost thirteen hundred years of wild border weather remarkably well.

It has runic inscriptions, vine scrolls and figures, including one said to be Christ. Together with a cross at Ruthwell in Dumfriesshire, the Bewcastle monument shows the highest quality of early Anglo-Saxon carving.

Close by, a small buiding houses an excellent series of interpretative panels which relate the story of the cross, and also of the Roman camp, castle and surrounding area.


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