Field Visit

Date 29 August 1910

Event ID 651830

Category Recording

Type Field Visit

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/651830

RCAHMS County Inventory: Caithness

[Cross-incised stone] At Sandside House there is a stone incised with symbols, which was found built into a stone dyke near Shurrery, not far from Tigh a'Bheannaich, which was evidently the site of a chapel or religious foundation. It is a rectangular block of sandstone, 2' 5" in length, 9" in breadth, and 8" in thickness. On the face of the stone is incised a small stemmed circle or orb, 4" in diameter, containing an equal-armed cross. The stem is 3 1/2" in length, 1" in breadth where it joins the circle, and 1 1/2" at base. Beneath, and occupying the breadth of the stone, is a plain circle with a diameter of 8".

[Sandside House 1] Placed against a wall at the E. side of Sandside House, and set within a wooden frame, is another sculptured slab. It was found about fifty years ago, near the site of an ancient settlement on the sand links by the sea shore at Sandside, and was subsequently used to cover a mill-lade where a road crossed, in which position it remained until September 1889, when it attracted the notice of Mr Pilkington, the proprietor of Sandside, during some repairs to the mill-lade, and who removed it for preservation to Sandside House. It is a rectangular slab of the hard sandstone of the district, 4' 8 1/2" long by 1' 11 1/2" wide by 3 1/2" thick, sculptured on one face with incised lines, thus: (front) at the top, a symbol (unnoticed previous to the discovery of this stone), consisting of a horizontal row of three flattened ovals, joined together in the middle by pairs of small circles, and having a double outline at the tops and bottoms of the ovals; below this, the mirror-case symbol; and at the bottom, the mirror-and-comb symbol.

Visited by RCAHMS (AOC) 29 August 1910.

[Two photographs from this visit in Curle's journal MS 36/19]