Artist/Designer: Douglas Strachan

Location: St Cuthbert’s Church, Edinburgh

Date: 1922

Photographer: Susan Bradbury

St Cuthbert is shown guarding sheep as a young man, and on the right he is shown as a mature monk he is being asked to leave his hermitage to become a Bishop. Look carefully at the central panel where he is carrying the severed head of St Oswald, which is not an incident in his life, but there is an explanation.

When Vikings attacked the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, the monks wanted to save the remains of both saints. Oswald had been decapitated in battle and his head was placed inside Cuthbert’s coffin, which was taken by the monks when they fled to safety. It is believed that the two saints are still together in their resting place in Durham Cathedral.