Meigle
Cross Slab (Pictish), Pictish Symbol Stone (Pictish)
Site Name Meigle
Classification Cross Slab (Pictish), Pictish Symbol Stone (Pictish)
Alternative Name(s) Meigle Museum; Meigle Stones; Meigle No. 14; Meigle A1
Canmore ID 30843
Site Number NO24SE 25.14
NGR NO 2872 4459
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/30843
- Council Perth And Kinross
- Parish Meigle
- Former Region Tayside
- Former District Perth And Kinross
- Former County Perthshire
Meigle 14, Perthshire, cross slab fragments
Measurements: H 0.40m, W 0.46m
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: NO 2877 4439
Present location: Meigle Museum.
Evidence for discovery: the lost right-hand fragment was recorded in the mid nineteenth century built into the fabric of the eighteenth-century church, which was destroyed by fire in 1869. The surviving fragment was found around 1960, probably in the graveyard.
Present condition: the carving is clear.
Description
A small cross slab, this is carved in relief on both faces within a roll moulding. Face A bears part of a cross outlined by roll moulding, with stepped armpit, and a plain background. Face C bears part of what was originally a row of three clerics, the central figure facing outwards and flanked by two figures in profile. They wear draped cloaks over long tunics with decorated hems. The flanking figures carry books and the central figure carries a possible reliquary.
Date: ninth century.
References: Skene 1832, 22; Stuart 1856, pl 93.10; ECMS pt 3, 334; Cruden 1964, 22.
Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2018
This fragment was built into the walls of Meigle Church but is now lost. A sandstone slab, nearly rectangular, 9" x 8", sculptured in relief on one face.
Front- Right-hand lower corner of a panel, containing the lower part of two human figures.
J R Allen and J Anderson 1903; P Chalmers 1848
Publication Account (1964)
Two robed clerics with books.
S Cruden, (MOPBW Guidebook) 1964
Note (1990)
The surviving portion of this upright cross-slab measures 0.4m by 0.21m and 0.05m in thickness and bears, on the front, a cross-potent, the surface of which is infilled with key-pattern and interlace, and on the back the figures of two ecclesiastics, one of whom is holding a book. This information may be supplemented by Chalmers' illustration of the adjoining portion of the back of the slab, which is now lost; this shows another ecclesiastic and the greater part of the central figure. Thus the original design showed a central figure wearing a vestment with a border infilled with key-pattern, flanked by ecclesiastics shown in profile, also wearing robes with decorated borders. The lost portion is no. 14 in Allen and Anderson and the surviving portion is no.A1 in the catalogue prepared by Cruden. Information from RCAHMS (JNGR) 1990. P Chalmers 1848; J Stuart 1856; J R Allen and J Anderson 1903; S Cruden 1964.
