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St Ninian's Isle carved stones Description of collection
Event ID 1085680
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Early Medieval Carved Stones Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1085680
St Ninian’s Isle
A tiny island off the west coast of Shetland hosted an important early church of which traces have been found by excavation. Its collection of carved stones includes 16 cross-slabs, three portable cross-incised stones and an ogham-inscribed fragment. There is also one cruciform slab and an unusually small hogback gravestone, perhaps to mark a child’s grave, and these indicate Norse influence. In addition to these personal memorials, the presence of seven grooved stone posts testify to the use of at least two shrine-chests composed of side-panels slotted into corner-posts, which would have housed relics of saints or perhaps revered local aristocrats.
Primary references: Barrowman 2003; Scott & Ritchie 2009; Barrowman 2011.
A Ritchie 2019
