St Ninians Isle Description of stone
Event ID 1015191
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Early Medieval Carved Stones Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1015191
St Ninian’s Isle 3, Shetland, shrine post
Measurements: H 0.84m, W 0.21m, D 0.14m
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: HU 3685 2090
Present location: Shetland Museum, Lerwick (ARC 6686)
Evidence for discovery: found during excavation in 1957, in a secondary context set upright in the north-east corner of the rectangular structure dubbed the ‘Founder’s Tomb’.
Present condition: worn.
Description
The upper part of this post is dressed while the basal portion has been left rough. It has two decorated faces, A and E, and three grooved faces. The grooves are 0.37m to 0.52m long. Face A has a plain flatband border formed by a pecked line, within which are seven hollows: a group of four hollows above a group of three smaller hollows. The top, face E, has a circular boss, 0.13m in diameter, carved in relief with a triple spiral.
Date: eighth or ninth centuries.
References: Thomas 1973, no 2; Scott & Ritchie 2009, no 32.
Compiled by A Ritchie 2016