Archaeology Notes

Event ID 685320

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/685320

NO25NE 6 2921 5658.

About 400 yds SW of the top of Strone Hill is the 'Abbot's Cross', a collection of boulders, arranged in two arms or ridges, intersecting one another at right angles; each arm is c. 6 1/2' wide, one arm, 36' long and the other, 34' long. The stones were piled to form ridges varying from 2' - 2 1/2' above ground level, and most of them are now overgrown with grass and heather, but at the outward ends of the arms the largest boulders are placed. In the centre, where the arms intersect, is a cavity about 1' deep and 2' in diameter, which was probably occupied originally by an upright stone, now removed.

This is possibly the site of a boundary stone set up by the Abbot of Arbroath about the end of the 12th c (Warden gives the date '1253') to mark the limit of Kingoldrum estate, owned by the Abbey. Fenton adds that the cross-stone is not mentioned in early documents, viz: 1253, 1256 and 1458.

W Fenton 1948; A J Warden 1884

NO 2921 5658. Abbot's Cross appears as raised strips of earth in the form of a cross, each arm measuring 10.0m and 0.3m in height, spread to 2.7m. It has a setting of small boulders at the extremities of each arm, and a small cavity in the centre. It is situated on the SW- facing slope of Strone Hill.

Surveyed at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (NKB) 22 November 1967