Forres Descrition of stone
Event ID 1037144
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Early Medieval Carved Stones Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1037144
Forres 1, Sueno’s Stone, Moray, cross-slab
Measurements: H 6.50m above socket stone, W 1.14m, D 0.36m
Stone type: red sandstone
Place of discovery: NJ 04655 59533
Present location: within a glass shelter in a field off Findhorn Road, Forres.
Evidence for discovery: the first reference to the stone is possibly Pont’s map of about 1590, which shows a pair of pillars north of Forres (McCullagh 1995). The socketed base appears to have been cladded with dressed stones to form a three-stepped circular plinth early in the eighteenth century, and a protective metal cap was added sometime before 1890. The stone was covered by a glass pavilion in 1991.
Present condition: very weathered, particularly at the top, with edge damage.
Description
This tall rectangular slab tapers very slightly towards the top, and it is carved in relief on all four vertical faces. Face A is bordered by a high roll moulding, within which is a ringed cross on a long shaft, which rises from a rectangular base in the form of a horizontal bar stretching across the width of the stone. The arms of the cross have squared terminals and rounded armpits. Both the cross and its background are filled with ring-knotted interlace designs. Below the base of the cross is a panel with two tall figures in profile bending over a seated frontal figure, with a small figure tucked into each of the top corners.
Face B is divided into two panels: vine-scroll inhabited by small striding men at the top, and uninhabited vine stems without leaves or scrolls below.
Face C is entirely filled with the visual narrative of a great battle. The top panel depicts a central mounted warrior with two rows of three horsemen below, all riding towards the left. The central panel contains five rows of upright figures, both frontal and profile, along with decapitated horizontal bodies, heads and a conical object, mounted warriors and foot soldiers. The third panel has an arch over decapitated bodies and pairs of fighting foot soldiers, and there is another row of figures in the lowest panel of which only part can be seen.
Narrow face D is divided into four panels, at least three of which contain zoomorphic interlace and figures.
Date range: later ninth or tenth century.
Primary references: Gordon 1726, 158; ECMS pt 3, 149-51; McCullagh 1995; Henderson & Henderson 2004, 55-7, 135-6 ff.
Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2018.
