St Vigeans1 Description of stone
Event ID 1028446
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Early Medieval Carved Stones Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1028446
St Vigeans 1 (Drosten Stone) (St Vigianus), Angus, inscribed Pictish cross-slab fragments
Measurements: H 1.84m, W 0.55m, D 0.19m
Stone type: grey sandstone
Place of discovery: NO c 6384 4289
Present location: in St Vigeans Museum (HES).
Evidence for discovery: the lower fragment was found sometime before 1845 in re-use as a floor slab in the church, and it was removed and erected in the south-east part of the churchyard before 1854. By 1899 it had been taken into the west porch of the church. The upper fragment was found re-used in the east gable or staircase of the church during the restoration of 1871, and sometime before 1903 it was joined to the lower fragment. Together the fragments were placed in St Vigeans Museum in 1960.
Present condition: weathered, and a portion of the upper part of the slab is missing.
Description
These two fragments are not conjoining but appear likely to belong to the same stone. Both broad faces and the two narrow long sides are carved in relief within plain flat-band borders. Face A bears a cross spanning the height and width of the rectangular slab, which is outlined by a heavy roll moulding. The shaft is filled with dense interlace, using median-incised cords and diagonal glides, and there are cruciform voids between the glides. The two surviving terminals show that the arms were filled with interlace and there were large open circular armpits, but the centre of the cross-head is missing. A winged anthropoid figure crouches on the left arm of the cross. The background on either side of the shaft is filled with animals and snakes, arranged vertically to fill the narrow available space.
Face B is carved with interlace above a small basal panel containing an inscription in half-uncial letters, which consists of three personal names: Drosten, Uoret and Forcus.
Face C brims with life and fable. At the top is a hunting scene with stag and hounds, above several damaged or missing motifs. Across the width of the slab is a large double disc and Z-rod symbol, with interlaced triangles filling the discs and perhaps forming crosses. Below again are a decorated crescent and a comb and mirror. Next come a bear and a doe with a suckling fawn, and then a goggle-eyed beast, an eagle feeding on a salmon and a quadruped with a large horned head. At the foot of the panel is a finely delineated scene with a crouching archer, crossbow at the ready, facing a massive boar.
Face D is carved with one long panel containing a simple vine-scroll with lanceolate leaves and upturned berry bunches. Towards the top, the penultimate scroll features an otter-like creature nibbling the berries, and the damaged scrolls beneath may also have been occupied.
Date range: eighth to ninth century.
Primary references: ECMS pt 3, 234-9; Fraser 2008, no 67.1; Geddes 2017, no VIG001.
Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2017
