Flotta, Bayview

Flotta 1, Orkney, carved altar frontal or shrine component

Measurements: H 0.81m, W 1.65m, D 0.09m

Stone type: sandstone

Place of discovery: ND 3665 9308

Present location: National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh (X.IB.48)

Evidence for discovery: found in two halves, re-used in the wall of the medieval church on Kirk Bay in 1871, taken to Kirkwall soon after and kept in George Petrie’s garden. Petrie’s collection of artefacts was bought by the Society of Antiquaries in 1877 and the slab was sent by steamer to Edinburgh.

Present condition: broken into two but restored. There is damage to the base of the slab and to the top left corner, and the carving is worn.

Description

This rectangular slab is carved on one broad face in low relief. A flat-band moulding forms a border along the top and sides and two vertical mouldings divide the face into three panels: a central, almost square panel and two slightly narrower panels. The panels finish well short of the base. The central panel contains in low relief an equal-armed cross, with open rounded armpits, which is filled with interlace ornament. The rectangular terminals to the arms are each filled with dense two-cord interlace, the cords of which narrow to continue unbroken into the centre of the cross, where there appears to be a back-to-back pair of spirals. The background to the cross is plain, except for an incised X filling the space to the lower right.

The narrow sides and top of the slab are plain, as is the reverse, face C, but there are vertical grooves close to the ends of the slab on face C, indicating that side-slabs could be fitted to what was probably an altar frontal or part of a shrine. The grooves terminate short of the top edge of the slab.

Date: eighth or ninth century.

References: ECMS pt 3, 23; NMS SAS UC17/39; Orkney Archives D34/S/2-3; RCAHMS 1946, no 1027; Thomas 1971, 186-8; Henderson & Henderson 2004, 209-10; Scott & Ritchie 2015, 191-2, no 30.

Compiled by A Ritchie 2016

Flotta 2, Orkney, incised panel

Measurements: H 0.8m, W 1.7m, D 0.07m

Stone type: sandstone

Place of discovery: ND 3668 9310

Present location: in the old graveyard on Kirk Bay in Flotta.

Evidence for discovery: found in 2017 lying flat in the old graveyard by Donald Sutherland. Beneath it at either end were rectangular dressed stones, and rubble in the area between the, which may suggest that the slab had been re-used as a grave-cover.

Present condition: weathered and there is damage to two corners and along the edges.

Description

This rectangular slab is evenly worked on its top and sides but the base is rough and irregular. It is incised on one broad face with a thin pecked line running about 40mm from the edges of the top long side and the two short sides, creating a plain flat-band border. On the short sides these lines stop some 160-200mm short of the base of the slab. The dimensions of the slab, the broken base and the position of the pecked lines all closely match Flotta 1.

On the face of the slab, two pairs of parallel vertical lines, each pair 30mm wide, run down the centre, enclosing a plain panel about 200mm wide, which again finishes some 200mm short of the bottom of the slab. The position of this panel on the slab, its width and the distance between the parallel lines all match those of the vertical arm of the cross on Flotta 1.

Also on the face of the slab, 60mm from the left side and 350mm from the top is a narrow horizontal groove some 27cm long.

The narrow sides and top of the slab are dressed and even, but the rear is mainly rough except for areas that have been dressed on the outer sides of the slots and along the top, leaving a rough central area some 10-20mm higher. Two vertical slots each approximately 100mm from the right and left sides and 60mm wide run from around 140mm from the top to the broken base. They match a similar pair of slots on Flotta 1, suggesting that side slabs could be fitted between them to form an altar or shrine.

Date range: eighth or ninth century.

Source: Donald Sutherland and Chris Gee, pers. comm.

A Ritchie 2019

ND39SE 4 3665 9308.

(ND 3665 9308) Chapel (NR) (Site of)

OS 6" map (1900)

No remains of the chapel survive but its site is marked by a slight rise in the ground now occupied by the local war memorial. A rectangular slab of grey sandstone, bearing a highly ornamented Celtic cross and now in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS) is believed to have come from the site. It measures 5ft 5ins by 2ft 8ins by 3 to 4ins thick, and two vertical grooves on the back suggest that it formed the side of a sarcophagus.

RCAHMS 1946

As described above. No further information regarding sandstone slab.

Visited by OS (RL) 15 June 1967.

The carved stone, which has also been interpreted as an altar frontal, is in the collections of the National Museums of Scotland (Accession Number: NMS X.IB 48).

Information from Ian G Scott.