Documents

Where documents include maps, the use of this data is subject to terms and conditions (https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/termsandconditions).

The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.

• Type

  Legal Documents

  Title

  SM12183_Legal Doc

  Download(https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/document/600014198)

Summary

Description

The monument comprises the remains of a recumbent, coped grave marker, likely to date to the 12th century. It is located in Annan old parish churchyard, which lies on the E bank of the River Annan, at the W end of Annan High Street.

This earthfast carved stone measures approximately 1.5m long by 0.5m wide, and is aligned E/W. Its two sloping flanks show traces of a tegulated design (the pattern created from overlapped tiling). Its W end bears a roundel. The top surface carries an inscription of likely 18th-century date that demonstrates recycling of the high medieval monument as a later burial marker.

The area to be scheduled is rectangular on plan, to include the remains described and an area around, within which associated remains may be expected to be found, as shown in red on the accompanying map. Specifically excluded from the scheduling are all active burial lairs and other grave markers, to allow for their maintenance.

Statement of National Importance

Cultural Significance

The monument's cultural significance can be expressed as follows:

Intrinsic characteristics

The monument is a well-preserved example of a high-status, high medieval, burial monument. Its form and design (notably the tegulation) has the potential to help us understand the art-historical development of such monuments from earlier hogback monuments. It is an important example of the post-Reformation recycling of medieval monuments; such reuse is often the reason why such monuments have survived and is an important part of a monument's biography. This monument can therefore help us to understand the value that later peoples placed on earlier monuments.

Contextual characteristics

Scottish medieval recumbent monuments are a relatively small and little studied group. Coped gravestones, such as Annan, are a later development of hogback monuments, a 10th- to 11th-century form of monument found along the firths of Forth, Clyde and Solway, in Berwickshire, eastern Scotland, Orkney and Shetland, as well as northern England, from where this form of monument was introduced to Scotland in a culturally Scandinavian context. In Scotland around 22 hogbacks survive, in addition to 8 related decorated recumbent monuments. The Annan example is one of at least 16 tegulated coped monuments of the 11th to 12th centuries, and is of particular interest because its tegulation illustrates its ancestry.

The monument's likely date makes it the most visible surviving evidence for the 12th-century church that the de Brus (Bruce) family probably established at Annan. Its reuse suggests that people moved it from its original location somewhere in the graveyard.

Associative characteristics

The coped monument derives from hogbacks, a distinctive form of burial marker that is ultimately of Scandinavian origin. Related monuments appear in Norway, Sweden and Denmark in the 12th century, providing evidence for social and ecclesiastical links across the North Sea.

The lands of Annan (including the church site) and its surrounds were part of the estate of Robert the Bruce's father and were territorially significant in the disputes over land ownership and control between English and Scottish forces across the Scottish West March.

National Importance

The monument is of national importance because it has the inherent potential to make a significant addition to the understanding of the past, in particular the form, nature and development of medieval commemorative burial markers in south-west Scotland and across northern Britain as a whole. It retains important and relatively well-preserved architectural and decorative features that provide unique evidence for a link between different types of burial markers. The carved stone is the most visible evidence for the important medieval church at Annan, and it provides evidence for high-status burials in the associated graveyard. The loss of this monument would affect our ability to understand the history and development of burial fashions in the medieval and later periods across northern Britain, as well as the nature and significance of the ecclesiastical establishment at Annan.

References

Bibliography

About Scheduled Monuments

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.

We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).

The format of scheduled monument records has changed over time. Earlier records will usually be brief. Some information will not have been recorded and the map will not be to current standards. Even if what is described and what is mapped has changed, the monument is still scheduled.

Scheduled monument consent is required to carry out certain work, including repairs, to scheduled monuments. Applications for scheduled monument consent are made to us. We are happy to discuss your proposals with you before you apply and we do not charge for advice or consent. More information about consent and how to apply for it can be found on our website at www.historicenvironment.scot.

Find out more about scheduling and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.