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Unst, Sandwick, Framgord Chapel And Cemetery

Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Cemetery (Period Unassigned), Chapel (Medieval), Cross Slab (Early Medieval)

Site Name Unst, Sandwick, Framgord Chapel And Cemetery

Classification Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Cemetery (Period Unassigned), Chapel (Medieval), Cross Slab (Early Medieval)

Alternative Name(s) Framgord, Chapel And Gravestones; Our Ladies Kirk

Canmore ID 131

Site Number HP60SW 3

NGR HP 61912 02908

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/131

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
Canmore Disclaimer. © Copyright and database right 2024.

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Digital Images

Administrative Areas

  • Council Shetland Islands
  • Parish Unst
  • Former Region Shetland Islands Area
  • Former District Shetland
  • Former County Shetland

Early Medieval Carved Stones Project

Framgord 1 (St Mary), Sandwick, Unst, Shetland, cruciform stone

Measurements: H 0.63m, W 0.30m

Stone type: schist

Place of discovery: HP 6191 0290

Present location: in the churchyard at Framgord.

Evidence for discovery: recorded by RCAHMS in 1930.

Present condition: good.

Description

This cruciform stone has rounded arms and the side-arms are shorter than the upper arm.

Date: ninth to eleventh centuries.

References: RCAHMS 1946, no 1539; Scott & Ritchie 2009, no 114.

Compiled by A Ritchie 2016

Early Medieval Carved Stones Project

Framgord 2 (St Mary), Sandwick, Unst, Shetland, cruciform stone fragment

Measurements: H 0.76m, W 0.30m +

Stone type: schist

Place of discovery: HP 6191 0290

Present location: in the churchyard at Framgord.

Evidence for discovery: recorded by RCAHMS in 1930.

Present condition: broken.

Description

One vertical side of this stone has sheared off, leaving one intact side-arm, short and with a squared terminal. Part of the upper arm is missing, but it had an expanded shape, as did the shaft.

Date: ninth to eleventh centuries.

References: RCAHMS 1946, no 1539; Scott & Ritchie 2009, no 115.

Compiled by A Ritchie 2016

Early Medieval Carved Stones Project

Framgord 3 (St Mary), Sandwick, Unst, Shetland, cruciform stone

Measurements: H 0.54m, W 0.32m

Stone type: schist

Place of discovery: HP 6191 0290

Present location: in the churchyard at Framgord.

Evidence for discovery: recorded by RCAHMS in 1930.

Present condition: good.

Description

This cruciform stone is a good intact example of the form with expanded upper arm, short side-arms with squared terminals and pointed foot to the shaft.

Date: ninth to eleventh centuries.

References: RCAHMS 1946, no 1539; Scott & Ritchie 2009, no 116.

Compiled by A Ritchie 2016

Early Medieval Carved Stones Project

Framgord 4 (St Mary), Sandwick, Unst, Shetland, cruciform stone

Measurements: H 0.74m, W 0.33m

Stone type: schist

Place of discovery: HP 6191 0290

Present location: in the churchyard at Framgord.

Evidence for discovery: recorded by RCAHMS in 1930.

Present condition:

Description

This stone has short squared arms and a flaring shaft, and it is notable for the addition of a second inner cross carved in relief.

Date: ninth to eleventh centuries.

References: RCAHMS 1946, no 1539; Scott & Ritchie 2009, no 117.

Compiled by A Ritchie 2016

Early Medieval Carved Stones Project

Framgord 5 (St Mary), Sandwick, Unst, Shetland, cruciform stone

Measurements: H 0.62m, W 0.27m

Stone type: schist

Place of discovery: HP 6191 0290

Present location: in the churchyard at Framgord.

Evidence for discovery: recorded by RCAHMS in 1930.

Present condition:

Description

A slender example of a cruciform stone, this has short side-arms, flared expanded upper arm and a straight shaft. There is a tenon-like extension to the op of the upper arm.

Date: ninth to eleventh centuries.

References: RCAHMS 1946, no 1539; Scott & Ritchie 2009, no 118.

Compiled by A Ritchie 2016

Early Medieval Carved Stones Project

Framgord 6 (St Mary), Sandwick, Unst, Shetland, cruciform stone

Measurements: H 0.48m, W 0.20m

Stone type: schist

Place of discovery: HP 6191 0290

Present location: in the churchyard at Framgord.

Evidence for discovery: recorded by RCAHMS in 1930.

Present condition: worn and battered.

Description

This stone has a straight shaft and foreshortened squared arms.

Date: ninth to eleventh centuries.

References: RCAHMS 1946, no 1539; Scott & Ritchie 2009, no 119.

Compiled by A Ritchie 2016

Early Medieval Carved Stones Project

Framgord 7 (St Mary), Sandwick, Unst, Shetland, cross-slab fragment

Measurements: H 0.28m, W 0.34m

Stone type: schist

Place of discovery: HP 6191 0290

Present location: in the churchyard at Framgord.

Evidence for discovery: recorded by RCAHMS in 1930.

Present condition:

Description

This fragment is the top part of a slab carved in relief with a cross. The arms exten to the edges of the slab, but most of the shaft is missing.

Date: eighth or ninth centuries.

References: RCAHMS 1946, no 1539; Scott & Ritchie 2009, no 125.

Compiled by A Ritchie 2016

Early Medieval Carved Stones Project

Framgord 8 (St Mary), Sandwick, Unst, Shetland, recumbent gravestone

Measurements: L 1.22m, W 0.43m

Stone type: schist

Place of discovery: HP 6191 0290

Present location: in the churchyard at Framgord.

Evidence for discovery: recorded by RCAHMS in 1930.

Present condition: worn, and there is damage to the edge of the slab to the left of the shaf of the cross.

Description

This was an almost oval slab, carved in relief with a cross with expanded terminals to the side-arms and a large disc terminal to the upper arm. The foot of the shaft is missing.

Date: tenth to eleventh centuries.

References: RCAHMS 1946, no 1539; Scott & Ritchie 2009, no 128.

Compiled by A Ritchie 2016

Archaeology Notes

HP60SW 3 6191 0291

(HP 6191 0293) Chapel (LB)

(In Ruins) Burial Ground (TI).

OS 6" map, Shetland, 2nd ed., (1900)

A ruined chapel, probably pre-reformation, standing within its burial ground which was still in use in 1878 (Name Book 1878). The chapel is oblong in plan, measuring (internally - not 'overall' as stated by RCAHMS) 36' 10" (11.22m) E-W long from 10' 6" (3.2m) to 11' 9" (3.6m) N-S. The walls which are very irregularly built, varying from 2'11" (0.89m) to 5'2" (1.58m) in thickness, stand to a maximum height of 6' (1.83m) on the west. The only opening traceable is an entrance in the middle of the west gable. Internally there are slight indications of cross-walls at 15'6" (4.72m) from the east and again at 11'6" (16.77m) from the west end. Within the burial-ground, beside some upright slabs carved with rude crosses, lies a recumbent cross-slab as well as five roughly formed coped-stones, each having a central rib on the upper surface. Inside the chapel is a large late 17th or early 18th century armorial stone.

RCAHMS 1946.

Our Ladies Kirk.

Shetland Museum Card Index.

As described. The burial ground is still in use. Name not known locally.

Visited by OS (RL), 4 May 1969.

Cemetery [NAT]

OS 1:10,000 map, 1973.

Activities

Antiquarian Observation (1860 - 1870)

Loose drawings of sites in Orkney and Shetland in the Society of Antiquaries Collection (SAS 487), mainly by George Petrie.

Field Visit (24 April 2010)

This chapel and burial-ground, situated in improved pasture about 50m WNW of Kirk Geo, remain as described by RCAHMS in 1946.

References

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