Charles Lindsay Murray Scott

Location: St Mary the Virgin Church, Elham, Kent, CT4 6TH

Details on cross:

IN LOVING MEMORY OF CAPTAIN C.L.M. SCOTT.

NORTH STAFFORD REGT. ATTD ROYAL FLYING CORPS.

FEB 15 1917

“LEAD KINDLY LIGHT”

Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): Text is carved with considerable care and skill directly into the wood of the cross. Weathering has reduced the boldness of some of the text – the date, for example, is somewhat hard to read.

Cross dimensions (millimetres please)
Shaft Height: Approx 1364mm

Cross beam width: Approx 578mm

Width of wood: NA

Thickness or depth: Approx 41mm

Other information
Mounting to wall: Not currently mounted

Detailing: Beneath the lettering is the feint outline of what appears to be a religious monogram, possibly ‘IHS’ Iesus Hominum Salvator ‘Jesus, saviour of mankind’ or In Hoc Signo ‘In this sign’, but it is extremely worn and hence very hard to make out without much closer inspection than was possible at the time of visiting.

The cross is of substantial timber construction. Examination of the rear shows that the four curved components of the ‘Celtic circle’ is each individually screwed into the main shaft and the cross piece with two flat-headed screws at each end. The main shaft and crosspiece are screwed together using for screws, also from the rear. Thus the cross is constructed of six sections of timber, neatly jointed.

Evidence of use in field (earth marking, cracking, staining, shrinkage): Cross over all is well weathered, but not generally in poor condition. The bottom approx. 372mm of the cross’s shaft is rotted and very worn. The base of the shaft has two shaped wooden supports, also quite badly rotted, one on either side and originally nailed to the shaft with large iron nails.

Surface insertion depth (into ground if apparent): see notes above

Finish (varnish, paint, oiled, unfinished etc): Appears to have been positioned unprotected. Finish is natural wood,

Survey and photographs courtesy of S Disbrey

Date of survey: 3/8/17