Towns > Dundee > 1822 - Dundee delineated; or, A history and description of that town, its institutions, manufactures and commerce

197
.exture, and much more decayed. Judging from ciicum-
stances, which, it must be confessed, is rather a vague me-
thod of judging, the teuth, or at latest the beginning of the
Eleventh century might be assigned as the date of the
building of this church.
Connected with the north side of this church, there is a
small building, one part of which appears to have been the
(confessional, and the other the penitentiary. This building
'd 'is of the same stone, and in the same style with the church,
but though appearances favour the hypothesis, they are not
absolutely conclusive of its being built at the same time.
In laying a paved gutter round the foundations of this
church, the workmen came to the edge of a tombstone,
which formed part of the foundation ; and permission be-
ing obtained, this tombstone, together with another under
it, was dug out ; and though neither contains a date, they
are perhaps among the oldest Christian monuments in the
county. The age of the building in the foundation of
which they had been used as common stones, cannot be less
than eight hundred years; and at that time the memorials
of the dead, which were held in much more veneration tharx
now, could not well have been converted to the common
purposes of building till they were at least, say, two hun-
dred years old. This would give to these monuments an
age of at least a thousand years.
Each of these monuments has carved in relief an orna-
mented cross, with stem and pedestal, together with a large
straight sword with a cross guard on the left side. The
one which was undermost, and which is nearly entire, is
hewn into panes, — the middle one containing the cross,
that on the left the sword, and that on the right having no
figure or inscription. The other stone is flat, having the
cross in the middle, and an inscription round the sides, in
an admixture of rude Anglo-Saxon and Roman characters.
This inscription is indented ; it has a cross at the beginning
and end ; and may perhaps be read thus, —
^|- HIC : IACET • ULELMVS • DICTVS ; LONGVS •
CVJVS ; ANIMTAX ItEgVIESCAT j IN • PACE • ** +
R 3