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Monymusk, St Mary's Parish Church, Monymusk 1
Cross Incised Stone (Early Medieval)
Site Name Monymusk, St Mary's Parish Church, Monymusk 1
Classification Cross Incised Stone (Early Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) Monymusk Parish Church
Canmore ID 116668
Site Number NJ61NE 4.01
NGR NJ 6850 1524
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/116668
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Monymusk
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Gordon
- Former County Aberdeenshire
Monymusk Stone is a rare Aberdeenshire example of a Pictish symbol stone with cross, dating from eighth century AD. Clock, 1792, by William Lunan, although face is 1865. Kirkyard enlarged 1900s when earlier stones herded together; one coffin-shaped slab.
Taken from "Aberdeenshire: Donside and Strathbogie - An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Ian Shepherd, 2006. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk
Monymusk 5, Aberdeenshire, cross-incised gravemarker
Measurements: diameter of incised circle is 0.23m
Stone type:
Place of discovery: NJ 6850 1524
Present location: displayed within the church.
Evidence for discovery: photographed in 1910 when it was set into the paved floor beneath the tower of Monymusk Church.
Present condition: one side broken but cross intact.
Description
A simple equal-armed linear cross is incised within a circle on one broad face of the slab.
Date: seventh or eighth century.
References: Ritchie 1911, 347-8, no 2; Shepherd 2006, 142.
Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2017
Field Visit (3 July 2000)
NJ61NE 4.01 6850 1524
See also NJ71NW 12.
Three cross-incised stones have been found at Monymusk Parish Church. One is now lost but the other two now lie loose beside the Class II Pictish symbol stone (NJ71NW 12) on the floor of the tower of the church.
The first is a flat slab, measuring 400mm by 320mm and 50mm in thickness, which is broken on one side. The upper surface bears the pecked and incised figure of a cross within a circle. The reverse bears an incised Latin cross with a curved line linking the terminals of the cross-bar and the upper arm.
A photograph by James Ritchie, published by W D Simpson (1925, 57, Fig.9), shows this stone in reuse in the floor of the tower, the circled cross upwards.
The second stone is an irregular granite block, measuring 460mm by 430mm and 110mm in thickness. It bears a deeply incised swastika, the terminal of each arm curving in towards, but not meeting, the adjoining arm.
The third stone formerly stood in the churchyard. It too was photographed by Ritchie and published by Simpson, the photographs showing an unshaped block with an incised cross on one face. The arms of the cross were apparently of equal length and had expanded terminals. The stone was not located in either the church or the graveyard on the date of visit.
Visited by RCAHMS (IF), 3 July 2000.
W D Simpson 1925.
