Glencarse House, Lodge

NO 1929 2239 A fragment of a probable Pictish symbol stone was found, but unrecognised, c.2009, in a field at Glencarse Farm, St Madoes. The finder collected it as a suitable boulder for his rock garden in Perth and removed it there. In c.2015 the finder spotted markings on the stone and a sequence of archaeologists, most recently M. Hall, confirmed the markings were Pictish symbols and initiated reporting of the stone to the Scottish Treasure Trove Unit.

The approximate area of the carvings, on the edge of one broad face only, measures: 270 x 300mm, upon a block with the overall dimension of: 640 x 970 x 230mm. On this irregularly-shaped large fragment of a much bigger greyish sandstone boulder, and against the broken edge, lie the slight remains of a sculptural design of a Pictish symbol pair. The surviving elements have been damaged by a plough scar and some historic foliation and the stone itself has been broken off from a much larger stone, the break line passing through the middle of the motifs. The nature of any other carvings on the stone can only be speculated upon unless the rest of the stone turns up. There is no trace of carving on the other faces.

The pairing comprises a small, simple comb (with two sets of opposed large teeth plates), the bottom right corner of which has been removed by a break in the stone surface and alongside a circle from which two parallel lines run, before beginning to flare-out into a larger disc. The stone is broken just where the parallel lines begin to flare but nevertheless stylistically the most likely interpretation is that of a mirror with a single-disc terminal.

A symbol bearing stone being found in this area should occasion little surprise given its close proximity to the group from St Madoes and Inchyra, comprising the St Madoes cross-slab, a currently lost fragment of a second slab (also from St Madoes) and the Inchyra symbol stone. Both the St Madoes and Inchyra sculptures are in the collections of Perth Museum & Art Gallery. Both previously lay approximately 1 mile from the findspot of the new fragment from Glencarse Farm.

The St Madoes 1 cross slab has a suite of symbols on face C, and the Inchyra slab has symbol pairs on faces A and C, including a mirror (but no comb which may have been lost to damage). The new find is right at the southern end of the mirror and comb distribution. The main concentration is in Aberdeenshire but the Tayside region has some 15 or so examples, the majority from Angus with two certain examples from Perthshire: Meigle No. 1 and Meigle No. 7. The pairing of comb and mirror has various arrangements. On this new piece of sculpture, the comb, double-sided, is to the right of the mirror handle, a configuration recorded for three other examples: a double-sided and a single sided comb respectively at Bourtie and Newbigging (both Aberdeenshire) and a single-sided example at Aberlemno No. 1 (Angus).

Symbol stone fragment from St Madoes. Image courtesy of Perth Museum and Art Gallery

Mark Hall – Perth Museum and Art Gallery

(Source: DES Vol 20)