Early Christian stone monuments on the move

Two early Christian monuments are set to make a 25 mile (40km) pilgrimage across the south of Scotland.

The stone carvings stood outside Monigaff Parish Church in Minnigaff until 1995.

They were then moved inside the building to protect them from erosion and vandalism.

However, the B-listed church is now being sold and proposals have been made to move the monuments to Stranraer Museum.

Dumfries and Galloway Council - which owns the stones - was informed of plans to sell the redundant building in the summer of 2023.

The Church of Scotland asked the local authority to remove the artefacts - one of which is thought to date back to the 8th Century - in order for the sale of the property to go ahead.

The council is proposing to use its neighbourhood services team - which is responsible for graveyard maintenance - to move the carvings.

It said they had "considerable experience in dealing with stone monuments of this nature".

Discussions had been held to keep them in Newton Stewart museum, which is closer to their current home.

However, the private museum would not currently have anywhere to display the stones.

The council-owned facility in Stranraer is being renovated to include an area for historic stone monuments where the examples from Minnigaff could be housed.

An application has now been made for listed building consent to move the stone carvings to their new home.

According to the Church of Scotland website the Gothic Revival design church - which was built in 1836 - is now under offer.

It was put on the the market for offers over £79,999.