Scheduled Maintenance
Please be advised that this website will undergo scheduled maintenance on the following dates: •
Every Thursday from 17th October until 7th November from 11:00 to 15:00 •
Tuesday, 22nd October from 11:00 to 15:00
During these times, some services may be temporarily unavailable. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Publication Account
Date 1986
Event ID 1017305
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1017305
Named from the legend of the daughter of the laird of Balquhain who died during her elopement, this is a cool pink slab of granite, bearing on one face, in low relief a most elaborate and confIdent ring-headed cross and on the other four bold symbols, carved in high relief Above the cross on the west face two fish monsters surround a man with arms outstretched (a Calvary scene?). Below the cross a great roundel with spiral work surrounded by interlace, key-pattern and knotwork can still be discerned. The sides of the slab have also been carefully decorated. The east face has been divided into four panels, bearing a centaur (?), a notched rectangle (?based on a gate tower) and Z-rod, a Pictish beast and a mirror and double-sided comb. These have all been carved with a 'massive simplicity' that was an elegant and successful response to the problem of executing relief sculpture in granite.
The cross, the treatment of the symbols and their framing in separate panels on the back of the stone all suggest that this was one of the last symbol stones to be carved in Grampian. It is certainly one of the finest.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Grampian’, (1986).
