Strathmartine

Strathmartine 5 (St Martin), Angus, Pictish cross-slab fragment

Measurements: H 0.38m, W 0.38m, D 0.05m

Stone type: sandstone

Place of discovery: NO 3784 3526

Present location: lost.

Evidence for discovery: found in the churchyard of St Martin and taken to Baldovan House some distance to the south-south-east. Baldovan was uninhabited from 1975 until 2002 when the ruins were demolished, and the whereabouts of Strathmartine 5 and 6 is unknown.

Present condition:

Description

This was a small portion of the right-hand side of a cross-slab, carved in relief and bordered on both sides with flat-band moulding. On face A part of the shaft of a cross survived, its edge outlined by a roll moulding and its interior filled with diagonal key pattern which merged with a lower area of ring interlace. To the right of the shaft were the remains of two panels, the upper of which contained a long-legged quadruped and the lower a beast biting its own body. On face C was part of a double disc and Z-rod, the disc filled with a double spiral. Part of a possible second symbol survived below.

Date range: eighth or ninth century.

Primary references: ECMS pt 3, 233; Fraser 2008, no 69.3.

Desk-basd information compiled by A Ritchie 2018