Strathmartine
Grave Slab (Pictish)
Site Name Strathmartine
Classification Grave Slab (Pictish)
Alternative Name(s) Strathmartine No.2
Canmore ID 31879
Site Number NO33NE 7.01
NGR NO 3784 3525
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/31879
- Council Angus
- Parish Mains And Strathmartine (Angus)
- Former Region Tayside
- Former District City Of Dundee
- Former County Angus
Strathmartine 2 (St Martin), Angus, Pictish recumbent graveslab
Measurements: L 1.5m, W 0.5m, D 0.18m
Stone type: grey sandstone
Place of discovery: NO 3784 3525
Present location: McManus Galleries, Dundee (1969-271).
Evidence for discovery: found sometime before 1832 during grave-digging in the churchyard of St Martin and erected beside the road opposite the churchyard. It was later moved to Craigmill House just east of the graveyard and bolted to the wall inside the gate. In 1969 it was given to the museum in Dundee.
Present condition: the upper surface of the head of the slab is missing and it is very weathered.
Description
This was part of a composite grave monument, for there is a socket 90mm deep at the broader end to take an upright cross. The recumbent element is carved in relief with a long central sunken panel within a roll-moulded decorative border. The border contains both running double spirals and diagonal interlace, and the sunken panel contains two serpents in relief, their heads echoing the double spiral pattern on the border.
Date range: ninth or tenth century.
Primary references: Skene 1832, 15; ECMS pt 3, 231.
Desk-based assessment compiled by A Ritchie 2018
External Reference (1980)
NO33NE 7.01 3784 3525.
No. 2 is a recumbent slab of old red sandstone 1.3m x 0.53m x 0.17m sculptured in relief on one face; a much defaced border design of scrolling and interlaced work encloses a pair of biting serpents. Now in Dundee Museum (NO 4025 3047).
Information from R Jones 1980.
