Forteviot Manse, Cross And Cross-slab

Forteviot 3, Perthshire, cross-arm fragment

Measurements: H 0.30m, W 0.25m, D 0.15m

Stone type: sandstone

Place of discovery: NO 0514 1747

Present location: at Forteviot parish church.

Evidence for discovery: when recorded for ECMS in the late nineteenth century, the stone was in the garden of the manse at Forteviot.

Present condition:

Description

This arm is quadrangular in shape and belonged to a ringed cross with circular armpits, the ring of which was carved on two levels forming a T in section. Within a plain flat-band border, the arm is carved in relief with triangular interlace in which the interstices contain a pellet. The end of the arm also bears triangular interlace, here with median-incised cords. The ring bears a simple two-cord twist.

Date range: ninth or tenth century.

Primary references: ECMS pt 3, 324, 326; Aitchison 2006, 109-10; Hall 2011, 143-4.

Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2018

Forteviot 4, Perthshire, possible cross-shaft fragment

Measurements: H 0.40m, W 0.36m, D 0.18m

Stone type: sandstone

Place of discovery: NO 0514 1747

Present location: at Forteviot parish church.

Evidence for discovery: when recorded for ECMS in the late nineteenth century, the stone was in the garden of the manse at Forteviot.

Present condition: trimmed and badly weathered.

Description

With its solitary horseman carved in low relief, this fragment may have belonged to the top of the cross-shaft of which no 1 was the basal portion. The scalloped roll moulding that survives on the left-hand corner suggests that it could be the cusped lower arm of a free-standing cross. The horse and rider face left, and the warrior carries a spear in his right hand, but the details are sadly blurred by weathering.

Date range: ninth century.

Primary references: ECMS pt 3, 324, 326; Aitchison 2006, 110, 113-14; Hall 2011, 144.

Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2018

NO01NE 11 0514 1747

See also NO01NE 10.00.

(Area NO 052 174) In the garden of the Manse at Forteviot is a fragment of the arm of a sandstone cross, and a fragment of an upright cross-slab, both sculptured.

J R Allen and J Anderson 1903.

There is no trace of either cross-fragment in the manse garden and the present minister has no knowledge of them.

Visited by OS (J T T) 5 November 1965.

Both fragments are now in the porch of the church at Forteviot.

Information contained in letter from J Close-Brooks, National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS) to OS, 20 April 1978.