Rutherford's Monument is a commemorative monument between

Anwoth Anwoth is a settlement near the Solway Firth in the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire, southwest Scotland, within a parish of the same name in the Vale of Fleet, Dumfries and Galloway. Anwoth lies a mile (1.5 km) to the west of Gatehouse ...

and

Gatehouse of Fleet Gatehouse of Fleet ( ) is a town, half in the civil parish of Girthon, and half in the parish of Anwoth, divided by the river Water of Fleet, Fleet, Kirkcudbrightshire, within the council administrative area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. ...

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...

, Scotland. It is dedicated to the 17th-century theologian

Samuel Rutherford Samuel Rutherford (also Rutherfurd or Rutherfoord; – 29 March 1661) was a Scottish Presbyterian pastor and theology, theologian and one of the Scottish Commissioners to the Westminster Assembly. Life Samuel Rutherford was born in t ...

, who had been minister at the nearby

Anwoth Old Church Anwoth Old Church is a ruined church building which was built in 1626 to serve the parish of Anwoth in the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire in the administrative area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is roofless, but much of the walls ...

. It was built in 1842, and takes the form of a granite obelisk atop a square base. It was badly damaged by lightning in 1847, and rebuilt in 1851. It is a

Category B listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

Description

The monument stands on Boreland Hill, between

and

. It is an

obelisk An obelisk (; , diminutive of (') ' spit, nail, pointed pillar') is a tall, slender, tapered monument with four sides and a pyramidal or pyramidion top. Originally constructed by Ancient Egyptians and called ''tekhenu'', the Greeks used th ...

, high, made of polished

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

and mounted upon a square,

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

d base. On its south face, it bears an inscription commemorating Samuel Rutherford, which reads:

To the memory of the Rev. Samuel Rutherford Minister of the parish of Anwoth from 1627 to 1639 when he was appointed Professor of Divinity in the University of St Andrews where he died 1661. This monument was erected A.D. 1842 in admiration of his eminent talents, extensive learning, ardent piety, ministerial faithfulness and distinguished public labours in the cause of civil and religious liberty. The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance PsCXII-6

On its north face is another inscription, recording its restoration after being hit by lightning:

Struck by lightening AD MDCCCXLVII Rebuilt AD MDCCCLI

A short distance to the north-east of the Rutherford Monument is another, smaller monument, known as the Millennium Monument, erected in the year 2000 and commemorating all of the ministers of parishes of Anwoth and Girthon since the

reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

History

In 1838, a campaign was initiated to raise funds to construct a monument to Samuel Rutherford, who had been minister at

in the seventeenth century. By 1842 enough money had been raised, and the structure was built by the mason John Stewart and his firm J & J Stewart. It was struck by lightning in 1847 and largely destroyed; fundraising began again to restore it, and by 1851 there was sufficient money to engage Robert Hume, a lighthouse builder, to implement the repairs. In 1971, the monument was designated a Category B listed building. By the early twenty-first century, the uppermost layers of stone had become loose, and it was feared that the structure might collapse. In 2016 fundraising began once again to restore the structure, and work was carried out in 2017 and 2018 to stabilise it.

References

Sources

* * * * * * * {{refend Category B listed buildings in Dumfries and Galloway Monumental columns in Scotland Obelisks in Scotland 1842 establishments in Scotland Listed monuments and memorials in Scotland