Manx National Heritage has launched a publication about the Isle of Man’s famous collection of carved medieval stone crosses.

’Manx Crosses: A Handbook of Stone Sculpture’ is the culmination of a lifetime’s interest in the monuments by medieval archaeologist and historian Sir David Wilson.

A former director of the British Museum, Sir David retired to Castletown in 1992, but he has a much longer association with the island and recalls that childhood visits to Kirk Michael first stimulated his interest in the Manx crosses.

The Isle of Man boasts more than 200 crosses ranging from simple grave-markers to complex carved monuments, dating from the sixth to the 11th centuries.

The crosses are displayed in parish churches across the island and at the Manx Museum in Douglas.

All of them are protected as ancient monuments under the guardianship of Manx National Heritage, reflecting their significance to the island’s heritage.

Sir David begins by setting the geographical, political and religious context of the Isle of Man in the early medieval period before looking more closely at the places where the crosses were erected - namely the numerous chapels spread throughout the island and the major sacred sites at Maughold and St Patrick’s Isle.

The majority of the book concentrates on the crosses themselves, beginning with the early monuments - some with Pictish influences derived from eastern Scotland - from the 6th to the early 9th centuries.

Focus then moves on to the stones of the ninth century raised before the arrival of Scandinavian settlers, and culminates in the internationally-famous examples from the 10th and early 11th centuries which display intricate interlace and figures.

A separate chapter deals with the runic inscriptions for which the later crosses are equally renowned.

’Manx Crosses’ is much more than an art-historical account of the carved stones: Sir David also considers the social, political and ecclesiastical circumstances in which these monuments came to be made, the languages and scripts used in the inscriptions, and the reasons behind the cessation in their production in the 11th century.

The book has been edited and designed by local author and journalist Valerie Cottle.

It is illustrated throughout with more than 60 photographs and drawings, and concludes with a gazetteer listing all of the crosses and their vital statistics, an extensive bibliography and an index.

’Manx Crosses: A Handbook of Stone Sculpture 500-1040 in the Isle of Man’ is published by MNH and Archaeopress.

Copies will be available from the Manx Museum and the House of Manannan, price £18 for paperback and £28 for hardback. Pre-order online now at www.manxnationalheritage.im.