Logie Elphinstone Description of stone
Event ID 1022126
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Early Medieval Carved Stones Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1022126
Logie Elphinston 2, Aberdeenshire, Pictish symbol stone
Measurements: H 1.37m above ground, W & D 0.46m max
Stone type: whinstone
Place of discovery: NJ c 69 26
Present location: set upright in the grounds of Logie Elphinstone House, to the west of the house at NJ 7033 2588.
Evidence for discovery: this was one of four stones found lying on the ground on the Moor of Carden to the west of Logie Elphinstone House in or prior to about 1821. At that time the moor was planted and three of the stones were built into the enclosing wall, while the fourth (which is not known certainly to have been carved) was used as a floor slab in a kiln and ‘split by the heat and destroyed’. The three symbol stones were subsequently removed from the wall and erected in the house grounds.
Present condition: weathered.
Description
A pointed pillar-shaped stone was chosen for this symbol stone. Initially the stone was incised with a single symbol, a double disc and Z-rod set at a slight angle with the right-hand disc higher than that on the left. Each disc is composed of two concentric circles and the rod has a double outline. This symbol had become quite faint by the time that a pair of symbols was superimposed upon it: a crescent and V-rod above a double disc and Z-rod, set horizontally. This time the discs are plain and the rod id drawn with a single line. Above the symbols is an incised circle forming the base line for an ogham inscription, which reads QFTQU.
Date: seventh century.
References: Stuart 1856, 4; ECMS pt 3, 176-7; Forsyth 1996, 385-401; Clarke 2007; Fraser 2008, no 32.2.
Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2017
