Kirkhope / Manor-Water

Walker (1887) reports that "little more than half of this bowl remains; it lies on the site of St. Gordian's Church, near the head of Manor Water". The entry "028 Font Stone, Kirkhope, Manor" in Ancient Stones [www.ancient-stones.co.uk/borders/021/028/details.htm] [accessed 19 April 2019] reads: "The font stone, actually a re-worked base for a cross can be found beside St Gordian's Cross on the hillside above Kirkhope Burn. The cross-base, of grey sandstone, has been much damaged, particularly the socket which has been enlarged, apparently by battering, to form a rough basin with a notch for an overflow. It measures 0.66m x 0.56m on plan and reaches 0.43m high.[...] The stone was only brought to the site in the 19th century and once stood at the road junction between Hallyards and Manor Kirk. Why it was moved is not known but is likely to have some religious connection. It is also believed to have been the pedestal for a boundary stone marking the meeting point of three laird's lands and was thought to have stood at the foot of the Glack Brae on the route of an ancient drove road that links to the Thief's Road. A close study of the stone brought some interesting thoughts to light. The recess on top of the stone appears to have been created in two separate and distinct stages. The first stage is the formation of a shallow bowl or basin with a v-shaped notch in the rim to act as an outflow. The second stage is where the bowl has been deepened by cutting a straight sided pocket to take a cross-base. This would suggest that the stone was originally use as a font for religious or other ritual (pagan?) purposes then was later used as a cross-base." The entry for Kirkhope in CANMORE (National Record of the Historic Environment) [https://canmore.org.uk/site/49894/kirkhope] [accessed 19 April 2019] reports: "Walker (J R Walker 1887), notes a font (not the Font Stone) at this site in 1887, though this was not seen in 1957." The latter reference and the discrepancy in the measurements appear to obviate that the stone identified in Walker [cf. supra] is not the same that is now [2019] reported on the enclosure next to the stone cross reckoned by some as the likely site of Kirkside Church.