The Hidden Cross of St. Magnus Cathedral……BBC Pics of Scotland….
by Bernie Bell - 08:42 on 29 November 2025
The Hidden Cross of St. Magnus Cathedral…
We went to see an exhibition in Tankerness House Museum of the work of Orkney jewellery makers.
On the way into the main exhibition room, there is a display case containing some Orkney jewellery from times past. One of these pieces is a cross, and the mould it came from….
The information states ….
“Pilgrim’s cross and mould found concealed within an alcove in St. Magnus Cathedral. Date unknown.”
This intrigued me. I stood and look at it, placed my hand over it, tried to get a ‘feel’ of it in time and place.
What first came in my head, was 15 hundreds, then, farther back, rolling through time to the 11 hundreds. Maybe.
We carried on round the exhibition, and when I came home I was thinking again about the hidden cross. I was wondering why I should have had 15 hundreds in my head, as I strongly feel that it was made before that. Then, something the chap in the shop had said clicked with me – The Reformation – maybe it was placed in the alcove in the Cathedral during the Reformation, for safety. A revered piece of religious iconography - placed, then either forgotten, or the person who placed it never got the chance to come back for it. Troubled times.
The next step in its story was when I wondered about its origins. Was it made in Orkney, or elsewhere and brought here? Or was just the mould brought, and the cross made here? What I got in my head was France – that it was French and that possibly the mould, and a craftsperson who knew how to use it, came from France or was brought to Britain in the early 11 hundreds as part of the waves of folk who came after the Norman conquest. Maybe.
Then was the mould used to make this cross and probably other’s too? There would be a few centuries of history between its arrival in Britain and it being hidden in an alcove in St. Magnus. Who did it come to Orkney with? For what reason?
As the information states, possibly a Pilgrim to the shrine of St. Magnus. And then – why was it hidden?
These are just my thoughts – my conjectures. I thought it would-be good if someone made a story from it…..around it. That would entail creating characters and a lot of detail, which it isn’t in me to do! So – here they are, just my thoughts and conjectures.
Over to you – Storyteller?
http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=17591
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BBC Pics of Scotland…..
21st – 28th November 2025….
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyvpp4gglko
There are starting to be snowy pics!
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