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Unless otherwise stated, this image is the copyright of the submitter. Contact them for permission to reproduce it. |  | | Description | This stone once bore Pictish symbols, one of which I believe is otherwise unknown. The inset box shows the symbol (nested rectangles with a disc at three of the corners) and the arrow points to where it was engraved on the stone's NE face. Alas! the passage of time and the wind coursing down this steep-sided valley have completely erased this unique symbol. (I have seen a laser scan of this symbol and it appears as a blobby outline.)
Set above this was another symbol, also now erased, once thought to be a miniature double-disc symbol with connecting bar but a 2007 report suggested this was merely the handle part of a mirror symbol. I can't help thinking that had the rectangular symbol been reduced to the upper two discs with their connecting lines, this too would have resembled a miniature double disc with connecting bar, as well as the handle part of the mirror symbol.
This stone represents a silent plea on behalf of all symbol stones: if we leave them standing in the face of the Scottish weather they will inevitably fade and be lost forever. This stone could have been saved complete with all the symbols and the ogham writing had it been given shelter in time; how many more must we lose?
All information taken from RCAHMS; the inset drawing is copyright RCHAMS 2005. |
| Posted Comments: golux
(2012-12-04) | I mean to say in the caption -
The white dashes mark the ogham writing. (My apologies for the clumsy rendition, it's not easy without a pen-style mouse!) |
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