Alyth
Cross Slab (Pictish), Pictish Symbol Stone (Pictish)
Site Name Alyth
Classification Cross Slab (Pictish), Pictish Symbol Stone (Pictish)
Alternative Name(s) Alyth Manse; Alyth, Old Manse; Alyth High Kirk
Canmore ID 30756
Site Number NO24NW 14
NGR NO 2432 4875
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/30756
- Council Perth And Kinross
- Parish Alyth
- Former Region Tayside
- Former District Perth And Kinross
- Former County Perthshire
Alyth (St Moluag), Perthshire, Pictish cross-slab
Measurements: H 1.37m, W 0.42m, D 0.15m
Stone type: greenish slate or gneiss
Place of discovery: NO c 2447 4880
Present location: in High Kirk porch.
Evidence for discovery: found in 1887 buried in front of the door to the Established Church Manse in Alyth, near the ruins of the old kirk.
Present condition: broken down the left-hand side but carving otherwise clear.
Description
This slab is carved on both broad faces in a mixture of incision and false relief. On face A there is an outline cross with a slender basal tenon, defined by a sunken groove. The centre of the cross-head is marked by a hollow, and the arms and shaft are filled with incised interlace of simple design, linked around the central hollow. In the four spaces between the arms and shaft there are large incised spirals, those on the left being damaged, as is the terminal of the left arm. Face C bears part of a double-disc and Z-rod with hatched internal decoration. The surviving upper left rod ends in a leaf-shape but bears no foliation.
Date: seventh century.
References: ECMS pt 3, 286-7; RCAHMS 1994, 96; Fraser 2008, no 176.
Compiled by A Ritchie 2016
NO24NW 14 2432 4875.
(NO 2432 4875) A Class II symbol stone is in the porch of Alyth High Kirk (the old parish church). It was found in 1887 when levelling ground in front of the door of the Established Church manse at Alyth. It measures 4' 6" by 1' 7" by 6".
H Coutts 1970; J R Allen and J Anderson 1903
As described and illustrated. The Established Church Manse is at NO 2450 4885.
Visited by OS (WDJ) 29 September 1970
RCAHMS 1990.
Class II symbol stone with cross on the face and double-disc and Z-rod (damaged) on the reverse.
A.Mack 1997 p.44
Note (1990)
In 1887 a Class II symbol stone was discovered when the ground was levelled in front of the manse at Alyth (NO 2450 4885). The stone (a slab of grey schist 1.37m long, 0.45m wide and up to 0.13m thick) now stands in the porch of Alyth High Kirk. The front bears a Latin cross with an unusual tenon at the base of the shaft; the arms and shaft of the cross are decorated with interlace and there are spirals in the angles between the arms. On the reverse there is a Pictish carving compromising a fragmentary double-disc and Z-rod symbol.
RCAHMS 1990
(Allen and Anderson 1903, iii, 286; Coutts 1970, 52)
