Field Visit
Date 1990
Event ID 1105449
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1105449
This cross-slab (1.9m in height, 1.05m in width and 0.2m in thickness) formerly stood at the right-hand side of the entrance into the burial-ground. The front is dominated by a cross with a beaded margin and rounded sunken armpits whose moulded outer arcs combine visually to give the impression of a quadrilobate ring; the cross is decorated with interlace (including two roundels in the shaft, above a tangled base) but the central roundel of the crosshead bears worn spiral ornament.
The background is ornamented with beasts in lower relief, including two boar-like animals with large ears above the arms of the cross, intertwined sea-horses on the right, a spirited sea-horse on the left, as well as further animals, one with coiled hindquarters, on either side of the shaft. Both faces of the stone, but particularly the centre of the cross, are pitted by its use as a target for rifle practice. The back displays several symbols above a hunting scene. The symbols include a fish, a 'Pictish beast', an animal head, a triquetra, a serpent and Z-rod, and a mirror and comb. There are five horsemen in the hunt, accompanied by one hound, an angel-like figure (identified by Stevenson as the Persian god Ahura-mazda), and three fabulous beasts, including what appears to be a camel. Lower down the stone there are several cup-like markings and two cup-and-ring markings; these are now partly hidden by the concrete base, but a cast of the area of decoration is displayed nearby and this evidence has been incorporated into the present illustration.
Information from RCAHMS (JNGR) 1990
