Kintore
Pictish Symbol Stone (Pictish)
Site Name Kintore
Classification Pictish Symbol Stone (Pictish)
Alternative Name(s) Kintore Churchyard; Kintore No. 1
Canmore ID 18592
Site Number NJ71NE 33
NGR NJ 7930 1628
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/18592
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Kintore
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Gordon
- Former County Aberdeenshire
Kintore 1, Aberdeenshire, Pictish symbol stone
Measurements: H 1.29m (based on Stuart’s drawing), W 0.61m, D 0.25m
Stone type: grey granite
Place of discovery: NJ 7930 1628
Present location: close to the south gate to the kirkyard at Kintore.
Evidence for discovery: found below ground level in the kirkyard, placed flat over a grave, and subsequently erected in a new stone base on the south side of the church in 1854.
Present condition: weathered.
Description
A substantial slab, this is incised with Pictish symbols on both broad faces. On one side a salmon facing right above a triple disc, and on the other a crescent and V-rod with arcs and dots within the crescent above a Pictish beast facing right.
Date: seventh century.
References: Stuart 1856, pl 109; ECMS pt 3, 171-2; Fraser 2008, no 29.
Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2017
NJ71NE 33 7930 1628
Not to be confused with Pictish symbol stones from Kintore, Castle Hill (NJ 7939 1634), for which see NJ71NE 32.
(Kintore no. 1: NJ 793 162). A symbol stone was dug up in Kintore Churchyard and is now erected on a new stone base (bearing the date 1854) The stone measures 3 feet 8 inches high by 1 foot 10 inches wide, by 10 inches thick, and is sculptured on two faces.
J R Allen and J Anderson 1903.
Field Visit (13 March 1964)
The symbol stone as described above is now at NJ 7930 1628.
Revised at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (NKB) 13 March 1964.
External Reference (1980)
No. 1. Originally placed over a grave, it is now erected on a stone base to the S of the church. Measuring 1.1m x 0.55m, the stone is of grey granite and is incised on 2 sides.
Front: The fish and triple disc and bar symbols.
Back: Crescent and V-rod and the elephant symbols.
Information from R Jones 1980.
Publication Account (1986)
This incised Pictish stone, 1.2m tall, is unusual in having symbols on both faces. Differences in technique may indicate that they were carved at different times. A rather crude crescent and V-rod are placed above an almost lifeless beast on one face, whereas on the other a confidently carved fish surmounts a fme triple disc and cross bar. The interpretation of this last symbol as representing a bronze ring-handled cauldron suspended on a cross bar can be seen from the way the bar crosses over the inner edges of the rings and beneath their outer edges.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Grampian’, (1986).
Reference (1997)
Class I symbol stone - Kintore 1 - On the S face is a triple disc above a salmon with,on the reverse,a crescent and V-rod above an elephant.
A Mack 1997.
