Arbroath, Benedict Road
Cross Incised Stone (Early Medieval)
Site Name Arbroath, Benedict Road
Classification Cross Incised Stone (Early Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) Cliffburn
Canmore ID 70767
Site Number NO64SE 14
NGR NO 653 418
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/70767
- Council Angus
- Parish Arbroath And St Vigeans
- Former Region Tayside
- Former District Angus
- Former County Angus
Arbroath (Cliffburn), Benedict Road, Angus, cross-incised boulder
Measurements: L 0.34, W 0.26m, D 0.17m (taken from stone)
Stone type: Old Red Sandstone
Place of discovery: NO 653418
Present location: Meffan Museum, Forfar
Evidence for discovery: found in a garden in Benedict Road in the Cliffburn area of Arbroath in 1990. Ploughmarks suggest that it may have come originally from an adjacent field near St Ninian’s Chapel.
Present condition: good.
Description
This is a natural pillow-shaped boulder, incised with a cross with expanded arms and shaft and rounded sunken armpits.
Date range: eighth to eleventh century.
Primary references: DES 1990, 39 & 1995, 92; RCAHMS 2003.
Compiled by A Ritchie 2016
Artefact Recovery (1990)
NO64SE 14 653 418.
In May 1990, Mr Paul Mutter found a rough boulder marked with a cross, while digging his garden.
The stone is a water-worn piece of reddish Old Red Sandstone with the upper face pecked flat to display a Latin cross in relief. All three arms have expanded terminals, as does the shaft, but there is no other decoration. From the algal stain on the top face, the cross side has obviously been exposed for some time. On the underside is a recent plough mark, suggesting the stone came from arable fields in the not too distant past. It measures 34cm by 26cm by 190cm high.
Sponsor: Angus District Museums.
N M Atkinson 1990b.
Reference (1995)
NO 653 418 The stone, discovered in 1990, reported in DES(Atkinson 1990), is now on display in the Meffan Institute, Forfar.
N Atkinson 1995.
