Abernethy

Abernethy 4 (?St Bridget), Perthshire, carved fragment

Measurements: H 0.59m, W 0.38m, D 0.15m

Stone type: sandstone

Place of discovery: NO c 18 16

Present location: National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh (X.IB 255)

Evidence for discovery: found in the nineteenth century built into a door jamb of a cottage, and given to the museum by Alexander Laing in 1892.

Present condition: damaged and worn.

Description

This fragment has been identified as part of the shaft of a free-standing cross, but it is perhaps more likely to be part of a cross-slab. One face is carved in relief with the upper part of a shaft of a cross, outlined with a roll moulding, which bore an image of the Crucifixion above three hooded clerics in frontal stance. The upper part of Christ is missing, but the arms are likely to have extended into the side-arms of the cross. Christ is shown wearing a short tunic, and squatting on either side is a figure holding an upright spear shaft.

Date: ninth or tenth century.

References: Butler 1897, 232-3, pl 6; ECMS pt 3, 310-11; Proudfoot 1997, 49-50.

Compiled by A Ritchie 2016

NO11NE 83 c. 18 16.

The upper part of a 10th century cross-shaft, scultured in relief, wh ich formed the jamb of a doorway of a cottage in Abernethy, is now in Royal Museum of Scotland (RMS).

Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1892; D Butler 1897, 238; J R Allen and J Anderson 1903; R B K Stevenson 1959.

No. 4. A fragment of a cross-shaft measuring 0.58m x 0.35m x 0.16m thick. One face bears figural and animal decoration including 3 hooded heads. The other side is much weathered but seems to bear interlacing. In the RMS(NMAS) Accession no. IB 255.

Information from R Jones, 1980.

There is no change to the existing record.

Information from RCAHMS (JRS), 27 November 1996.