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St Madoes Churchyard, Cross-slab
Cross Slab (Pictish), Pictish Symbol Stone (Pictish)
Site Name St Madoes Churchyard, Cross-slab
Classification Cross Slab (Pictish), Pictish Symbol Stone (Pictish)
Canmore ID 28201
Site Number NO12SE 15
NGR NO 1966 2119
NGR Description Removed to NO 1965 2119
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/28201
- Council Perth And Kinross
- Parish St Madoes
- Former Region Tayside
- Former District Perth And Kinross
- Former County Perthshire
St Madoes 1, Perthshire, Pictish cross-slab
Measurements: H
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: NO 1966 2119
Present location: Perth Museum & Art Gallery.
Evidence for discovery: recorded in the 1830s lying flat in the churchyard at St Madoes by James Skene, and set upright in a new stone base at the instigation of T S Muir in 1853. In the 1920s it was moved, in its base, to stand against the wall beside the church door. In the 1990s it was taken to Perth Museum & Art Gallery.
Present condition: battered and worn but largely intact.
Description
A substantial cross-slab, this stone is carved in relief on both broad faces and along the top face E. Two quadrupeds, identified as lions by Henderson & Henderson (2004, 189), lie along the top of the slab, their back legs and long tails trailing over each corner. Whatever they were guarding between them appears to have been deliberately removed, but it had required a dip in the roll moulding at the top of the upper panel on face C. Except for the animals at the top, the two narrow faces B and D lack ornament. On face A, the entire width of the slab is occupied by a ringed cross with cusped arms and shaft outlined by a roll moulding. There is a square central panel filled with one large and twelve smaller bosses, each of which is carved with a triple spiral. The ring and the side-arms are filled with interlace, while the upper and lower arms contain diagonal key pattern. The lower part of the shaft is divided into two panels, one containing looped interlace forming four circles with two crosses in the voids, and below a panel of knotwork. In the spaces on either side of the upper arm are recumbent animals with their heads turned back to lie across their bodies. Below the side-arms the slab is bordered by a plain flatband moulding, and the panels thus formed on either side of the cross-shaft are carved with similar but not identical scenes of gripping beasts. Set vertically, the upper beast seems to be clawing its way upwards, held back by the beast below whose jaws are clamped tightly round its body. The feet have well-defined claws, the tails end in spirals and the muzzles, ears and eyes are carefully delineated. Face C is carved with three horsemen and three Pictish symbols, each in its own sunken panel, one above the other except for two symbol panels side by side. The horses and their riders are very similar but not identical, and each faces left. Despite the detailed treatment of reins and circular harness fittings, the proportions of the horses are poorly drawn. The topmost horse has a cropped tail. Each rider is seated on a saddle cloth and is wearing a short hooded cloak, apparently unarmed. There is an unidentifiable object beneath the head of the middle horse. Below the horsemen are two panels defined by roll mouldings, that on the left containing an ornamented crescent and V-rod and that on the right a largely defaced but elaborate double disc and Z-rod. The final panel below contains a lumpish Pictish beast facing left.
Date: ninth century.
References: ECMS pt 3, 292-6; RCAHMS 1994, 103; Fraser 2008, no 192.
Compiled by A Ritchie 2016
NO12SE 15 1966 2119 removed to 1965 2119.
(NO 1966 2119) Standing Stone (NR) Sculptured
OS 6" map, Perthshire, 2nd ed., (1902)
For (lost) cross-slab from St Madoes Church session-house see NO12SE 21.
This symbol-bearing upright cross-slab, of red sandstone, formerly lay in St. Madoes churchyard, and now stands upon a new base.
It is almost rectangular in shape, 5'9" high, by 3' wide at the bottom, 2'6" wide at the top and from 7"-8" thick.
J R Allen and J Anderson 1903.
Field Visit (9 June 1964)
This stone is as described. It has been shifted from its position shown on OS 25"map and is now under cover in a small roofed shelter attached to the SW end of the church, at NO 1965 2119.
It was probably moved to its present position between 1920-23. (Information from Rev Hector K Macdonald, The Manse, St Madoes) Re-surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (W D J) 9 June 1964.
Note (1987)
Now in sealed box.
Information from RCAHMS (Dr G Ritchie), 1987.
Note (January 1994)
This cross-slab, which was formerly set on a plinth at the entrance to St Madoes parish church (NO12SE 51), is now in Perth Museum. The stone was recorded first by Skene in 1833, who noted that it had 'fallen over and now lies flat and sunk into the earth', but in 1853 it was set upright in a newly-constructed plinth. Details of the re-erection are given by Allen and Anderson.
The slab, of grey sandstone with pebble intrusions, measures some 1.77m in height above the plinth, 0.89m in width and 0.24m in thickness, and bears relief decoration on the top and on both faces. The slab is surmounted by two beasts in high relief facing one another. On the front there is a ringed cross with a square central panel containing eroded spiral ornament; the rest of the cross is decorated with panels of key-pattern and interlace ornament. In each of the panels above the arms of the cross there is a beast whose head is turned round to allow them to bite its back. There are pairs of beasts on each side of the cross-shaft, the lower beast in each case biting the back of the upper one.
The back of the slab is divided into six panels, the upper three showing single horsemen wearing cloaks with pointed hoods and sitting astride saddle-cloths. The harnesses are carefully indicated; the horsemen are not armed, indeed it is possible that the lowest has a book-satchel, and Allen and Anderson thought they represent ecclesiastics. Below the horsemen, two adjacent panels contain a crescent and V-rod and a double-disc and Z-rod symbols; the roundels at the centre of the double-disc have penannular motifs. At the foot of this face there is a worn 'Pictish beast'.
Information from RCAHMS (IMS) January 1994.
J Skene 1832; J Stuart 1856; J R Allen and J Anderson 1903.
Publication Account (1997)
Class II symbol stone: with a cross on the face. On the reverse are three horsemen with crescent and V-rod on the left, double disc and Z-rod on the right and elephant underneath.
A.Mack 1997 p.55
