Malcolm's Cross

Malcolm's Cross is a commemorative cross standing in a woodland clearing a few yards to the E of the B6341 as it approaches the hilltop N of Alnwick. Carved in grey sandstone in the Gothick style, it comprises an open-centred bracelet cross head with curved foliate ends, standing on a tapering square shaft with festoons and grotesque heads at the top and hollow chamfered corners ornamented with dog-tooth. The cross shaft stands on a carved square pedestal, bedded onto on a stepped stone base and has a considerable amount of historic graffiti, some dated 1799. The pedestal is panelled, with a crowned thistle on the N side and the arms of Scotland bordered by thistles on the S. The E and W sides have inscriptions commemorating the death of Malcolm III of Scotland in the Battle of Alnwick on 13 November 1093 and recording the restoration of the cross by Elizabeth Seymour, First Duchess of Northumberland in 1774, as a symbol of the continuing family line which counted Malcolm as an ancestor. To the W is a square base or socket stone with a fragment of a previous medieval cross fixed into it.

Robin Kent Architecture & Conservation carried out archival research, inspected and reported on this important historic monument to help guide future repairs and maintenance, which included removing encroaching trees, carrying out specialist conservation works to remove cement patches and repair cracks which threatened the survival of the cross, and resetting the base stones, to ensure the monument and the historic events it commemorates will remain accessible to visitors for years to come. It has been suggested that Malcolm III actually died at the nearby site of St Leonard's Hospital, and the consultancy has also advised on this.