Langdale

Langdale, Sutherland, Pictish symbol stone fragment

Measurements: H 1.12m, W 0.69m, D 0.08m

Stone type:

Place of discovery: NC c 6944

Present location: lost.

Evidence for discovery: found during digging at Langdale Farm, upright and with its top some 0.40m below ground surface.

Present condition:

Description

Though thin, this must have been a tall slab, the top of which had broken off before the fragment was found. It bore part of an incised arch symbol decorated by arcs and a spiral.

Date: seventh century.

References: Mackay 1906; Fraser 2008, no 145.

Compiled by A Ritchie 2016

NC64SE 23 c. 69 44.

Part of an incised slab was found on Angus Gunn's farm at the foot of Langdale (NC 69 44) during trenching in 1905. The fragment measures 44 ins by 27 ins and is about 3 ins thick. The device, part of a concentric figure resembling the crescent symbol of the sculptured stones, is so clearly and artistically cut that the sculptor must have used a sharp iron tool. When found the stone was standing upright on a dry ridge and was sunk so deeply into the ground that is upper end was about 16 ins below the surface. At its base lay three rough boulders each weighing about 56 lbs.

A Mackay 1906.

Angus Gunn's son, Hugh, at Langdale, could not remember this slab being discovered, nor did he know its present whereabouts.

Visited by OS (J L D) 11 May 1960.

Class I symbol stone (lost) bearing a horseshoe.

A Mack 1997.