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Wester Denoon, Cross-slab
Cross Slab (Pictish), Pictish Symbol Stone (Pictish)
Site Name Wester Denoon, Cross-slab
Classification Cross Slab (Pictish), Pictish Symbol Stone (Pictish)
Canmore ID 79892
Site Number NO34SE 16
NGR NO 3502 4339
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/79892
- Council Angus
- Parish Glamis
- Former Region Tayside
- Former District Angus
- Former County Angus
Wester Denoon 1, Angus, Pictish cross-slab fragment
Measurements: H 0.42m, W 0.35m
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: NO 3502 4339
Present location: Meffan Institute, Forfar
Evidence for discovery: found during ploughing in 1994 in a field close to the site of a medieval chapel.
Present condition: broken and damaged.
Description
The central portion of a cross-slab, this fragment is carved in relief on both broad faces within a plain flat-band moulding. Face A bears a cross outlined by a roll moulding and filled with a continuous loose interlace, the cords of which have a median incised line. The terminals are rectangular (the top arm is missing) and the armpits are rounded. Flanking the shaft are narrow vertical panels of key pattern.
Face C bears a frontal figure, the upper part of whose head is missing. The figure wears a tunic with an interlace-decorated hem and pleated shoulder cape, and a very distinctive large annular brooch is placed centrally beneath the cape, with its pin horizontal. On the left of the figure are a mirror and a double-sided comb, while on the right is a single interlaced cord, which may originally have had a zoomorphic head but that area is obscured by surface damage.
Date range: ninth century.
Primary references: RCAHMS 2003; Fraser 2008, no 71.
Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2018
Artefact Recovery (1994)
NO34SE 16 3502 4339
On 18 April 1994, the contributor was called out to examine a carved stone which had been discovered whilst ploughing on the farm of Wester Denoon, Glamis, Angus. It was immediately recognised as a Pictish cross slab, and with the farmer and his wife, Mr David and Mrs Linda Brown, the find-spot was visited.
Both the top and bottom of the slab are missing and there is much more recent plough damage. Algae and some lichen remains suggest that the cross-side had been exposed and may have been built into the adjacent field wall which had an opening made for a gate 30-40 years previously.
The front of the stone bears a latin cross, the head of which is missing. This is infilled with knotwork which has an incised medial line and one of the round hollow angles remains indicating the shape of the cross.
Both panels flanking the shaft of the cross have rectangular shapes filled with crosses, four on the left and three on the right. The left of the stone has the remains of a border which probably ran along all edges.
The back of the stone is dominated by the figure of a woman, the top of whose head is missing. Her dress bears a hem of interlace and each shoulder a diagonal pattern. The most outstanding feature however is a large penannular brooch in the middle of the dress. Flanking the figure are a panel of interlace on the right and a mirror and comb on the left.
Size: 42cm (h) by 35cm (w) by 12cm (b)
The cross slab was removed to the Meffan Institute, Forfar for safekeeping and presently awaits the decision of the Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer for its future location.
DBF 164.
Sponsor: Angus District Museums.
N K Atkinson 1994b; NMRS MS/742/2.
Reference (1995)
NO 350 433. The Pictish cross slab found in 1994 (Atkinson 1994) was awarded by the Queen's & Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer to Angus Museums, and is now on display in the Meffan Institute, Forfar.
N Atkinson 1995.
Reference (1997)
Class II symbol stone.On the reverse is a female figure with a mirror and comb on her left.
A Mack 1997.
