Publication Account
Date 1995
Event ID 1016739
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016739
A fine cross-slab, 2.3m high, stands in the graveyard outside the west end of the church at Farr. It has no Pictish symbols and is carved in relief on one side only, an unusual feature which may indicate it originally stood close to a wall so the back was not seen. It is best seen at midday (1pm summertime) when the sun is sideways on to the stone and shows up the detail. A ringed cross in high relief occupies the greater part of the carved face with panels of key pattern above and below, much of the lower pattern being hidden in the ground. The cross and its ring, and the background, are decorated with tight interlace and curvilinear patterns. On the central boss is carved a triple spiral, and in the curved base of the cross is a pair of birds with their necks crossed.
The church at Farr was built in 1774 as the parish church, on an old site, and is now the Strathnaver Museum. Its unusually large and handsome pulpit with a reader's desk in front, dated 1774, is still in position between the long windows. Among the exhibits, mostly connected with crofting life or the Clearances, are a collection of fine 18th-century tombstones from the churchyard and from Bighouse in Strath Halladale, and a small dark-age cross-slab from Grumbeg in Strathnaver. (If the museum is closed, ask at the Tourist Office for the key-keeper.)
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: The Highlands’, (1995).
