Craigmailing is situated to the North-east of Cathlaw, East of Torphichen, North of Cairnpapple. Given the craig element, the name Craigmailing is clearly of Celtic origin, but according to John Garth Wilkinson, it derives from Scots craig ("rock") + mailing ("rented farm, holding").^[1] Nonetheless, Scots craig derives from Celtic anyhow, and given a nineteenth centry spelling provided by Wilkinson (Craigmailen), it seems highly plausible that the derivation is in fact from Gaelic creag ("rock") + meallan ("small lump"). However, Watson gives a Gaelic derivation of creag + mhaoilinn, which he translates as "rock of the bare round hillock".^[2] Certainly, Craigmailing is situated in the vicinity of a number of other Gaelic placenames, and, unusually for the Lothians, Goidelic settlement of this area is well attested.

The cross which once stood at Craigmailing was moved to be used in building works at the eighteenth century Cathlaw House, and had definitely been moved by the time of the 1856 Ordnance Survey map:

All that now remains on this site is the benchmarked socket stone of the cross shaft, but the cross is originally said to have stood directly by the roadside. By the time of the above map, it had clearly been moved to its present location in the corner of a field, suggesting use as a trough.

Another suggestion of its use as a trough is the groove marked into the front left-hand corner, shown above.

The socket stone is made of dressed grey whinstone, and measures around 29 inches square with a 4 inch splay around the edges.

The dating of the cross which would have stood in this socket stone is clearly early, and most likely to be first millennium, rather than second, since the development of permanent church buildings towards the end of the first millennium meant that fewer crosses were located on bare hillsides as the church became more and more established in its estates.

Solitary crosses on hillsides were a feature of early Christianity, and it is quite likely that the one at Craigmailing would have been a Celtic cross, if not in form, then certainly in terms of usage. If not Celtic, then it may have been of Anglian form. It is quite likely, however, that this cross was in some way connected with the Christian community which was responsible for the later burials just to the South at Cairnpapple.

Footnotes

[1] John Garth Wilkinson, West Lothian Placenames (Harburn: Torphin House, 1992), p.23.

[2] W.J. Watson, The History of the Celtic Placenames of Scotland (Edinburgh: 1926), p.146.