Edzell, Old Parish Church
Carved Stone (Early Medieval)
Site Name Edzell, Old Parish Church
Classification Carved Stone (Early Medieval)
Canmore ID 242659
Site Number NO56NE 7.03
NGR NO 5827 6871
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/242659
- Council Angus
- Parish Edzell
- Former Region Tayside
- Former District Angus
- Former County Angus
Edzell 2 (St Drostan/St Laurence), Angus, recumbent gravemarker
Measurements: H 1.35, W 0.66m>0.45m
Stone type: Old Red Sandstone
Place of discovery: NO 5827 6871
Present location: Meffan Institute, Forfar
Evidence for discovery: found in the churchyard sometime before the 1870s.
Present condition: damaged and very worn.
Description
This tapering slab is carved in low relief on one face only, and it has an irregular plain frame all round the edge which suggests that it was used as a recumbent gravemarker. It bears what may be a double disc symbol, with a cruciform interlace pattern in the left-hand roundel and a slatted bar, and a possible tree motif. The remaining spaces are filled with loose zoomorphic interlace.
Date range: ninth or tenth century.
Primary references: RCAHMS 2003; Fraser 2008, no 59.
Desk-based information compiled by A Ritchie 2017.
In 1870 a slab bearing debased sculpture was found in the wall of the burial-ground.
A J Warden 1880-85; RCAHMS 1984
Field Visit (14 July 1958)
The sculptured slab is preserved within the aisle.
Visited by OS (JLD) 14 July 1958.
Note (1983)
Edzell Old Burial-ground NO 582 687 NO56NE 7
A slab bearing debased sculpture (now in the Lindsay vault, Edzell old burial-ground) was found in Edzell old burial-ground found in the 19th century.
RCAHMS 1983
(Eeles 1910, 358-60; Reid 1915, 296-7; Stevenson 1959, 42-3; Coutts 1970, 58, no. 13).
External Reference (July 1985)
The stone stands inside the aisle, leaning against its east wall.
Information from I Fraser, July 1985.
Reference (1988)
The slab, found in 1870, which has been deteriorating badly was removed to Montrose Museum and has been cleaned and conserved. On artistic grounds it must predate 1100 AD.
N Atkinson 1988.
Field Visit (28 September 1989)
The slab bearing debased sculpture is no longer in the burial aisle.
Visited by RCAHMS (SH) 28 September 1989.
Reference (1995)
Originally found in 1870 in the old kirkyard wall, the cross slab was placed within the Lindsay Burial Vault. Having been 'lost' for several years, it was rediscovered in 1988 buried in pigeon droppings. It was conserved by the Scottish Museums Council and is now on display in the Meffan Institute, Forfar.
N Atkinson 1995.
