Field Visit

Date September 2018 - October 2018

Event ID 1088764

Category Recording

Type Field Visit

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1088764

NT 72885 33808 An assessment was undertaken of this 45 piece collection, which has a 12th- to 19th-century date range, in September – October 2018. The wide date-range is due to the presence of several late stones from the abbey’s boundary wall, which was probably renovated in the early 20th century. The remaining stones in the collection are medieval in date, and include a spandrel from a screen, jambs or column shafts, and a sundial, One jamb (KEL/j/2), has parallels in the triforium arcade in the SW transept. Here the mouldings, with a pointed roll set between a pair of halfrolls, resemble the form of the ex situ stone. The spandrel stone is large and fragile, but still embodies enough detail to see that it came from a two-sided screen which would probably have had miniature vaults spanning between the sides. As far as the structure is concerned, this

is very close to the choir screen identified at Dundrennan Abbey, where there is substantially more evidence to show how it was constructed. The sculptural treatment of the outer face includes a coiled reptilian creature, with clearly articulated scales and a long tail, and miniature ribs on the back of the stone show how it was intended to be used in the complete screen.

The sundial (KEL/o/3a+b), although broken in two, still has evidence of a gnomon on two adjacent faces, and would originally have had numerals incised around the edges of each rectangular face.

This and other inventories of carved stones from Historic Environment Scotland’s properties in care are held by the Collections Unit. For further information please contact collections@hes.scot

(source: DES, Volume 19)