St Ninian's Isle 1 Description of stone
Event ID 1014814
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Early Medieval Carved Stones Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1014814
St Ninian’s Isle 1, Shetland, ogham-inscribed fragment
Measurements: H 0.78m, W 0.26m, D 0.05m
Stone type: pale sandstone
Place of discovery: HU 3685 2090
Present location: National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh (IB.112)
Evidence for discovery: found ‘imbedded in the sand’ on the chapel site by Gilbert Goudie in 1876.
Present condition: the narrow ends of the slab are broken and the broad surfaces are laminated, but the ogham letters are clear.
Description
This is a rectangular slab on which ogham letters on a stem line have been carved along one long narrow face. The ogham inscription includes personal names and may be relatively early.
Goudie found two other fragments of ogham inscriptions but does not describe them and left them on site.
Date: eighth or ninth century.
References: Goudie 1878; Forsyth 1996, 467-79; Scott & Ritchie 2009, no 48; Forsyth 2011.
Compiled by A Ritchie 2016
