Tarbat 10 Description of stone
Event ID 1037341
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Early Medieval Carved Stones Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1037341
Portmahomack, Tarbat 10 (TR 10), Ross and Cromarty, inscribed cross-slab fragment
Measurements: H 0.47m, 0.31m, D 0.17m
Stone type: yellow sandstone
Place of discovery: NH 9149 8402
Present location: National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh (X.IB.286)
Evidence for discovery:
Present condition: damaged and very worn.
Description
This fragment comes from a very substantial monument. It is carved in relief on faces A and B, that on face A comprising a corner of a diagonally placed panel, outlined by roll moulding, which contains spiral work. On the relatively wide face B is a carefully carved Latin inscription in raised lettering, the form of which is related to the display scripts of Insular manuscripts (Higgitt 1982). The inscription is funerary and commemorates an individual whose name is partly illegible. Eight intact and a ninth partial line survive, reading ‘In the name of Jesus Christ, the Cross of Christ in memory of Reo[…]lius’.
It has been suggested that this fragment and Tarbat 20 were part of the same large cross-slab, reconstructed in Carver et al 2017 illus 5.3.53, where the inscription is seen as half-way up the side of the slab.
Date range: later eighth century.
Primary references: ECMS pt 3, 94-5; Higgitt 1982; Carver et al 2016, 124, 127, 157, D43.
Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2018
