Meigle

Meigle 6, Perthshire, Pictish cross-slab fragment

Measurements: H 0.57m, W 0.43m, D 0.11m

Stone type: sandstone

Place of discovery: NO 2873 4460

Present location: Meigle Museum.

Evidence for discovery: found in the ruins of the church after the fire of 1869.

Present condition: trimmed for re-use and some localised damage to the carving.

Description

This is the central part of a slab which tapers towards the foot and which is carved in relief on both broad faces. Face A has a plain flat-band moulding down each side and part of the shaft of a cross outlined with a plain roll moulding. The top of the shaft shows a narrow neck which would have connected with the lower arm of the cross-head. The shaft is filled with diagonal key pattern and the neck with interlace. Face B is bordered on both sides by a band of diagonal key pattern between two plain roll mouldings. Within this frame are two symbols, a double disc above a crescent, both with spiral ornament. Above the symbols is a horseman riding to the left, armed with a sword and circular shield and sitting on a saddle cloth. The upper part of the rider’s body is missing but it appears to have been flanked closely on the right by a quadruped.

Date: eighth or ninth century.

References: ECMS pt 3, 301-2; RCAHMS 1994, 102, F; Fraser 2008, no 189.5.

Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2018

NO24SE 25.6 2872 4459.

The central portion of a cross-slab, which was found in the parish church (NO24SE 33.00) in 1869, had been shaped to form a building-stone, and both ends have been broken off; it measures 0.57m in height, 0.43m in width and 0.11m in thickness, and bears on one face the shaft of a cross infilled with key-pattern, and on the other a horseman accompanied by a dog and two symbols. The head of the horseman is missing, but his saddle-cloth, circular shield and sword are clearly shown, as is the head and harness of the horse. Below this figure there is a double-disc symbol, with scrolls on the central roundels and knotwork on the bar, and a crescent symbol, infilled with scrolls, which arches over a running hound. On the back of the slab the border panels are decorated with key-pattern.

Information from RCAHMS (JNGR) 1990.