Churchmen call for stone exorcism

The archbishop of Glasgow cursed the stone

Churchmen have asked a Roman Catholic archbishop to perform an exorcism on a giant stone.

In 1520, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Glasgow, Archbishop Dunbar, cursed the stone in an attempt to ex-communicate the savage and lawless Border Reivers terrorising Cumbria.

And Carlisle City Council has re-inscribed the curse on the bishop's stone, as it is known, to form the centrepiece of a museum exhibition.

But now the Bishop of Carlisle, the Reverend Graham Dow, wants the next archbishop of Glasgow - who will succeed Cardinal Thomas Winning, who died in June - to lift the curse.

It is a wonderful thing for visitors to come and have a look at - a fine piece of art

Councillor Judith Attinson

Councillor Judith Attinson told the BBC's Today programme the curse was just "words very nicely engraved into a huge lump of granite".

"It is a wonderful thing for visitors to come and have a look at - a fine piece of art," she added.

But the Reverend Kevin Davies told Today that the curse should be taken seriously.

Words can affect reality for good or ill and become even more powerful when they are written down

The Reverend Kevin Davies

"This stone invokes evil on people and as such we should not take it lightly," he said.

The curse, which has never been revoked, is "a violent piece of spiritual language", according to Mr Davies.

"Words are powerful things," he told the programme.

"Words can affect reality for good or ill and become even more powerful when they are written down," Mr Davies concluded.