Field Visit

Date 22 March 2018

Event ID 1037106

Category Recording

Type Field Visit

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1037106

Nothing is now visible of this stone, which was erected on the crest of the steeply sloping N bank of the River Spey in 1865 (Inverness-shire - Mainland XLVI.14, 1873). The contemporary Name Book (Inverness-shire No. 24, p. 33) records that an inscription on the slab read ‘Erected at the request of the late William Grant Slock for a memorial of a signal manifestation of the divine power in dividing this water and causing a passage whereby the remains of a certain woman was carried over on dry ground’. There is an illustration of the stone and some detail of its background story in the chapter entitled ‘XV. Holy Mary of Lurg’ in ‘In the Shadow of Cairngorm’ by the Rev. W Forsyth, published in 1900. This is available in digital format at https://archive.org/details/inshadowcairngo00forsgoog (website accessed 16 April 2018).

The slab was broken up and thrown into the river in 1867, but its location in the water was confirmed in 1964. The water was cloudy and up to 1m deep at this point on the date of visit and no fragments of the monument were observed.

Visited by HES, Survey and Recording (ATW) 23 March 2018.