Description of stone
Date 11 May 2016
Event ID 1010286
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Early Medieval Carved Stones Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1010286
Crieff, Perthshire, Pictish inscribed cross-slab
Measurements: H 2.70m, W 0.60m, D 0.14m
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: NN 8655 2156
Present location: Crieff Tourist Information Centre.
Evidence for discovery: drawn by James Skene around 1830 in a stone base in the High Street, whence it had been brought sometime in the previous three decades probably from the Strowan area south-west of Crieff (Hall et al, 168-76). It was moved into the Information Centre in 1998.
Present condition: extremely worn and most of the carving on face C has been deliberately removed.
Description
This is a slightly tapered rectangular slab with a shaped basal tenon. It is carved in relief on all four faces, apart from the tenon, and roll mouldings define the edges and the cross. Face A bears a long-shafted cross with a ringed head, which is in higher relief than its background, with a central boss that is even higher and armpits that sink back lower than than the background carving. The central boss is carved with three spirals and the arms contain interlace linked around the boss. The ring bears step patterns and there are variants of key pattern in the spaces above the side arms. The shaft of the cross is divided into at least three panels, the top panel containing diagonal key pattern, the next panel bearing traces of an inscription, and the lower panel containing spirals. The inscription appears to have been arranged in four to six lines of miniscule letters and may have been deliberately defaced. To the left of the shaft, interlace with a median incised line merges towards the base with vine-scroll, while to the right there is similar interlace above a panel of diagonal key pattern. Face B bears an upper panel of diagonal key pattern and a lower panel of vine-scroll. Of the defaced face C only the base of the slab retains traces of carving in the form of two decorative borders, the outer containing interlace and the inner carved with diagonal key pattern. Face D bears two panels of zoomorphic vine-scroll above a basal panel of diagonal key pattern.
Date: ninth century.
References: Skene 1832, 10-11; Hall et al 2000.
Compiled by A Ritchie 2016
