Meigle

Meigle 15, Perthshire, cross-slab fragment

Measurements: H 0.23m, W 0.31m, D 0.04m

Stone type: sandstone

Place of discovery: NO 2877 4439

Present location: in Meigle Museum.

Evidence for discovery: first recorded by Skene in 1832, when it was built into the wall of the old church that was destroyed in 1869.

Present condition: trimmed for re-use as a building stone, the stone has been split and only one carved face survives. One original edge of face A is intact, and the carving is very worn.

Description

The width of the fragment is almost complete, showing that this was a very small cross-slab with a roll moulding along the edge. Face A is carved in relief with what is probably the lower part of the shaft of a cross, outlined with roll moulding which encloses a four-cord interlace pattern. The shaft is flanked by beasts set vertically: on the right an animal with its head turned back and a very long snout, while on the left two quadrupeds grapple with each other’s hind quarters.

Date range: ninth century.

References: Skene 1832, 22; ECMS pt 3, 334, 335; RCAHMS 1994, 98.

Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2019.

NO24SE 25.15 2872 4459.

A fragment of what has been an unusually small cross-slab measures 0.3m by 0.24m and up to 0.03m in thickness, and bears part of the shaft of the cross with interlace ornament; it is flanked by two intertwined biting beasts on one side and a crouching beast biting its own back on the other.

Information from RCAHMS (JNGR) 1990.