Skeith Stone
Cross Incised Stone (Early Medieval)
Site Name Skeith Stone
Classification Cross Incised Stone (Early Medieval)
Canmore ID 34068
Site Number NO50SE 17
NGR NO 5708 0464
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/34068
- Council Fife
- Parish Kilrenny
- Former Region Fife
- Former District North East Fife
- Former County Fife
Kilrenny 1 (Skeith Stone) (St Ethernan?), Fife, cross-slab
Measurements: H 1.12m above ground, W 1.02m, D 0.31m
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: NO 5708 0464
Present location: in field west of Kilrenny village, very close to its earlier location (it was moved in 1967).
Evidence for discovery: recorded by Stuart in1867.
Present condition: worn.
Description
One face of this massive slab is incised with an encircled cross-of-arcs accompanied by four external circular motifs. The equal armed cross consists of expanded arms, the spaces between which are each occupied by two sunken ovals with a raised area between them. A chi-rho hook has been argued to hang from the upper arm of the cross but this feature is controversial. The cross is encircled by three concentric incised lines, and the external circles consist of two to four incised lines.
Date: seventh century.
References: Stuart 1867, pl 124; ECMS pt 3, 374; Trench-Jellicoe 1998.
Complied by A Ritchie 2016
Field Visit (7 July 1925)
Skeith Stone.
Standing in a field about 60 yards south-west of Rennyhill Farm, and about 700 yards north of the public highway from Anstruther to Crail, is a roughly rectangular boulder of sandstone known as the Skeith Stone. It is set with its main axis north-north-west and south-south-east and has on the east face a double-ringed wheel design in incised sculpture, ¾ inch in depth, the wheel having eight petal-shaped spokes, averaging 13 inches in length and 3 inches in greatest breadth. The boulder is 3 feet 8 inches in height, 3 feet 4 inches in width, and averages 1 foot in thickness. It inclines with a very decided slope towards the north-north-west, and has been wedged up behind with a piece of sandstone, to prevent it from falling backwards. The west face is badly weathered. Investigations carried out in the ·neighbourhood of the stone in 1868 satisfied the excavators that it did not mark a burial site (1). It is not noted as an antiquity on the O.S. map.
RCAHMS 1933, visited 7 July 1925.
(1) Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., viii (1868-70), pp.56-7.
Field Visit (30 August 1968)
This stone is generally as described by RCAHMS, except that it has been moved slightly nearer to the farm track and is now oriented NE-SW.
Visited by OS (WDJ) 30 August 1968
Desk Based Assessment (1968)
NO50SE 17 5708 0464.
(NO 5708 0464) Skeith Stone (NAT)
OS 6" map (1912-38)
Skeith Stone. A roughly rectangular boulder of sandstone standing in a field about 600 yds SW of Rennyhill Farm. It is 3ft 8ins high, 3ft 4ins wide and averages 1ft thick. Its main axis is NNW-SSE and it inclines to the NNW. It has been wedged up to prevent it falling. On the E face is an incised double ringed wheel design with eight petal shaped spokes averaging 13ins long and 3ins in greatest breadth.
RCAHMS 1933
"...the Scaith Stone, near the village of Kilrenny,...does not likely mark the site of human burial, as, on a careful examination of the soil on all sides, even below the surface of the subsoil, we could discover no traces of interment..."
R Skinner 1871
Nothing is known of the history of the Skeith Stone, nor has any tradition connected with it been preserved. The cross on it resembles that on the monument at Bressay (Shetland 53-57?).
J Stuart 1867
Skeith Stone. An upright slab with a cross within a circular ring. Within the ring are eight lozenge or leaf shaped depressions, arranged in pairs to form a cross.
J R Allen and J Anderson 1903
Information from OS 1968
Sources: J Stuart 1867; R Skinner 1871; J R Allen and J Anderson 1903; RCAHMS 1933
