Pabbay. General view of symbol stone. Seemingly in situ with details of carving highlighted.

Description Pabbay. General view of symbol stone. Seemingly in situ with details of carving highlighted.

Date 23/9/1897

Collection Papers of Erskine Beveridge, antiquarian, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 746781

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of C 65811

Scope and Content Symbol Stone, Pabbay, Western Isles Pabbay, a small remote island at the southern end of the Outer Hebrides, lies between the islands of Sandray and Mingulay, 13km south of Barra. Above the beach at Bàgh Bàn, on the eastern shore of the island, lie the indistinct foundations of an ancient chapel, and several cross-marked stones which may be Early Christian gravestones. One, an unusual symbol stone, was photographed by Erskine Beveridge c.1897. This rectangular slab of local gneiss, measuring approximately 0.9m high by 0.4m wide, lies about 150m from the high-water mark. Its much-worn surface, stained with lichen, is incised with symbols, chalked by Beveridge to make them appear more distinct for the camera. In the centre is a flower, possibly a lily, with a tapering stem whose upper part splits into two branches, both of which curve to the right and end in broad terminals. Above the flower is a crescent and a V-rod symbol of the 'dome and wing' type, ornamented with two small circles. At the top is a simple Latin cross. The stone was uncovered by drifting sand some years before the photograph was taken. The carvings on the main face are different from the traditional interlacing Celtic patterns usually found on stonework in the Outer Hebrides, and it has been suggested that the stone's unusual markings may be Pictish in origin. The drifting sand also uncovered large quantities of human bones, evidence that the site was possibly an ancient burial ground. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap