Ladykirk Description of stone
Event ID 1017216
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Early Medieval Carved Stones Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1017216
St Mary’s Church, Ladykirk Stone, Burwick, South Ronaldsay, Orkney, footprints stone
Measurements: L 1.12m, W 0.56m, D 0.23m
Stone type: whinstone
Place of discovery: ND c 4400 8425
Present location: within St Mary’s Church.
Evidence for discovery: the stone was already within the church when George Low saw and sketched it in 1774. His suggestion that it was used ‘to expose delinquents at the Church’ may indicate a secondary use for the stone and a reason for taking it into the church.
Present condition: good.
Description
This natural boulder is carved on one broad surface with two shod footprints, each 0.25m long, set side by side. It is likely to be a royal inauguration stone.
Date: early medieval.
References: Low 1879, 25, 27; Windwick 1928; RCAHMS 1946, no 841; Ritchie 1996, 125.
Compiled by A Ritchie 2017
