Newton House Description of stone
Event ID 1022004
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Early Medieval Carved Stones Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1022004
Newton House 2 (The Newton Stone), Culsalmond, Aberdeenshire, inscribed Pictish symbol stone
Measurements: H 2.03m (above ground level), W 0.50m, D 0.26m
Stone type: blue gneiss
Place of discovery: NJ 6623 2972
Present location: still in situ in the grounds of Newton House.
Evidence for discovery: found around 1803 and first recorded by John Stuart in 1835 in a wood about a mile from Newton House, and subsequently moved to the grounds of the house (discussed in Forsyth 1996, 420-2).
Present condition: some weathering.
Description
An irregularly shaped natural pillar, its two inscriptions in ogham and half uncials have been long recognised, but RCAHMS fieldwork in the later 1990s revealed that there are also two curvilinear incised designs. The ogham inscription runs vertically down the stone and curves round to ascend again, and it includes the personal names Idarnon and Vorenn. The half uncial letters run horizontally in six rows across the top of the stone, beginning at the same level as the ogham, and it is difficult to read but appears to include personal names. The two inscriptions are thought to be contemporary but not identical (Forsyth 1996, 425, 439). At approximately the level of the curve in the ogham inscription but on the other flank of the stone, there is a roughly executed mirror symbol and a spiral motif.
Date: sixth or seventh century.
References: Stuart 1856, 1, pl 1; Okasha 1985, 54-6; Forsyth 1996, 420-42; RCAHMS 2007, 118, 125; Fraser 2008, no 38.2.
Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2017
