Description of stone
Event ID 1008401
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Early Medieval Carved Stones Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1008401
Birkle Hills, Caithness, Pictish symbol stone fragment
Measurements: H 0.97m, W 0.53m, D 0.08m
Stone type: Old Red Sandstone
Place of discovery: ND 3392 5847
Present location: National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh (IB 188)
Evidence for discovery: Sir Francis Tress Barry excavated the smaller of the two Birkle Hills in 1894-5, and this stone was found acting as a paving stone in a rectangular stone structure in the top of the mound.
Present condition: broken and mounted in ‘cement’.
Description
This roughly trimmed fragment is part of a finely incised symbol stone, bearing the triple disc and an unusual design which Allen identified as a mirror but which has more in common with the triple disc symbol, lacking only the second ‘handle’. Within the large disc is a rosette design.
Date: seventh century
Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2016
