APPENDIX C.

INSCRIBED AND OTHER CHRISTIAN MONUMENTS IN THE PICTISH AND

SCOTTISH KINGDOMS.

A.D. 400-900 (?).

A. A.D. 400-600 (?). A few monuments exist in Scotland, which look as though they should be referred to a semi-Roman date and origin.

i. Inscribed Monuments.

1. Near the kirk of Yarrow, a slab with an inscription in debased Roman characters as read by Sir J. Y. Simpson :

These are probably three inscriptions, and are in very rude letters. See Proc. of Antiq. of Scotl., II. 484, IV. 134, 524; Stuart, Sculpt. Stones, &c., II. App. III. p. xlviii.

2. At Kirkliston, called the Cat Stone, an inscription in like debased Roman characters

IN OC TV
MVLO JACIT
VETTA F

VICTI

(Proc. of Antiq., &c., as above, IV. 119; and Stuart, ib.)

[INSCRIBED AND OTHER CHRISTIAN MONUMENTS IN SCOTLAND.]

ii. Monuments uninscribed, of this earlier period, may possibly exist, but there is not sufficient evidence whereon to assign such a date to any existing

stone.

B. Inscribed and other Monuments in the Pictish Kingdom.
A.D. 700-900 (?).

Monuments of a definitely Pictish style cluster most thickly in the parts of the country which formed the centre of the kingdom of the Picts, viz. in the counties of Forfar, Fife, and the eastern districts of Perth, south of the Mounth, and in the valleys of the Dee and Don in Aberdeenshire, immediately north of it; being most abundant in the comparatively level district running westwards from the shore between Montrose and Arbroath through Forfarshire and Perthshire to the Tay and Dunkeld, and again, along the Earn. There are also isolated clusters in Elginshire, and on the shores of Ross along the Moray Firth, besides a few scattered examples elsewhere. All are of a very special character, markedly differing (and especially in the various symbols, which are peculiar to them) from the Saxon monuments in Northumberland, Durham, Cumberland, and Dumfries; from the pre-Saxon monuments in Kirkcudbright and Wigton and towards the lower part of the Clyde; and from those also, which are nearer akin to them, but which are destitute of the symbols above mentioned, viz. the older monuments in Argyllshire and the Isles. They are also of an older type than the Irish crosses, their ordinary character being that of pillar stones with the cross or ornaments simply cut on the face of the stone. But some, as e. g. those at S. Andrew's and at Dunkeld, which have the Celtic ornamentation, lack the peculiar Pictish symbols.

I. Inscribed Monuments are very few.

1. South of the Mounth.

i. At St. Vigean's (church of S. Fechin), near Arbroath, an elaborately adorned stone with a cross, interlaced work, and figures; and on one face of it,

DROSTEN...

IPE UORET
ELT FOR
CUS

i. e. (the cross) of Drost son of Voret of the family of Fergus. Drost was a King of the Picts, killed in battle near S. Vigean's A.D. 729.

[INSCRIBED AND OTHER CHRISTIAN MONUMENTS IN SCOTLAND.]

Another cross at the same place, also elaborately ornamented and with figures, has among the latter two ecclesiastics with peculiar dress and the Roman tonsure; and dates therefore after A.D. 710 × 718.

A third cross uninscribed, and several fragments, are also at the same place (Stuart, Sculpt. Stones of Scotl., I. 69-71, II. 126-128).

2. North of the Mounth.

ii. At Newton House, in the Garioch up the Don, Aberdeenshire, parish of Culsalmond, but removed from its original site: an upright pillar 5 or 6 feet high, with six lines of inscription, not yet read: also Oghams on its edge, which occur elsewhere in Scotland only at Logie in the same neighbourhood, at Scoonie in Fifeshire, at Golspie in Sutherland, and at Bressay in Shetland (Stuart, ib., I. 1).

iii. At Knockando, up the Spey, Elginshire, three slabs with patterns, and on one of them, in Runes of the 9th or 10th century,

SIKNIK,

a name which occurs also in Runes on a monument at Sanda Södermanland in Sweden (Stuart, ib., II. 105).

iv. At Papa Stronsay, north-east part of the Orkneys, a plain upright stone with a cross incised, and one word above the cross, unintelligible (Stuart, ib., I. 42).

v. At Bressay, eastern part of the Shetlands, a stone with cross and elaborate ornamentation, and on the edges of it Oghams, interpreted by Dr. Graves thus

BENRES MECCU DROI ANN

(Benrhe or the son of the Druid lies here).

CROSC NAHDFDADS DATR AN
(Cross of Nordred's daughter is here placed).

(Stuart, ib., I. 94, 95.)

II. Monuments without inscriptions abound in the localities above mentioneda.

a A few uninscribed monuments exist, which may be so far of earlier than (characteristically) Pictish Christian date, as to belong to a semi-Roman time, i. e. to S. Ninian's southern Christian Picts of A.D. 400 to (say) A.D. 600: e. g.

1. A cross near Alloa.

2. Stob's Cross (so called) near Markinch.

To which may be added

4.

3. At High Auchinlary, a cross, both in At Kirkelaugh, do. Galloway. See Stuart, Sculpt. Stones, &c., II. App. III. P. xlviii.

There is an incised cross in S. Ninian's Cave in Galloway (like those in the Fife caves), which Mr. Stuart has recently discovered.

[INSCRIBED AND OTHER CHRISTIAN MONUMENTS IN SCOTLAND.]

1. South of the Mounth.

(a) Forfarshire: stones with crosses, and mostly also figures, and interlaced ornament, at—

Inchbrayock, at mouth of the South Esk (Stuart, I.
68, II. 13).

i.

iii. Brechin, a fragment, but seemingly of late date
(ib., I. 138).

iv. Aberlemno, between Brechin and Forfar, five stones;
one destroyed, one removed to Abbotsford, an-
other with only the spectacle ornament, the other
two elaborately ornamented (ib., I. 71, 78-81, 98,
99).

v. Aldbar, close to Aberlemno (ib., I. 82).

vi. Kirriemuir, a little further west, three, elaborately
ornamented, and fragments of others (ib., I.43-46,
II. 13).

vii. Kingoldrum, N.W. of Kirriemuir; a bell also found
there (ib., I. 49, 89, 93).

viii. Menmuir, between North and South Esk (ib., I. 92).
ix. Glammis, W. of Forfar and S. of Kirriemuir, three
elaborately ornamented, the third called the Stone
of St. Erland or Orland (ib., I. 83-85).

x. Eassie, N.W. of Glammis, one stone with cross and
ornament (ib., I. 90, 91).

xi. Camuston, near Panmure, S. W. of St. Vigean's (ib.,

I. 87).

xii. Monifieth, on the coast just inside the Firth of
Tay (ib., I. 92, II. 80, 81, 123); a crucifixion is
on one of the stones, of which there are several.
xiii. Strathmartin, N.W. of Monifieth, fragments (ib.,
I. 77, 132, II. 101).

xiv. Invergowrie, N. coast of Firth of Tay (ib., I. 88, 89).
xv. Benvie, close to Invergowrie (ib., I. 126).

xvi. Dundee, a beautiful crossed stone of late date (ib.,

II. 125).

To which are to be added, xvii. the crosses at St. Vigean's already mentioned.

[INSCRIBED AND OTHER CHRISTIAN MONUMENTS IN SCOTLAND.]

(b) Perthshire: stones of a like character, at—

i. Meigle, on the edge of Forfarshire, fragments of
certainly two, probably more, very elaborately
carved stones, with crosses; also of four others

V.

iv. Rossie Priory, Inchture, Carse of Gowrie (ib., II. 99).
Dunkeld, an elaborately ornamented pillar of gray]
sandstone, with many figures and heads; and a
red sandstone pillar with a plain cross on it, of
seemingly later date; both used as gateposts to
the churchyard (ib., I. 50, 51); also a fragment
(ib., II. 68); and another fragment of a different
style from the Pictish (ib., 16).

vi. Dunfallandy, close to Killiecrankie, of black slate,
with cross and symbols, and figure in relief (ib.,
I. 47, 48).

vii. Dull, close to Taymouth Castle, fragments, and
three crosses with limbs (ib., II. 16, 17).

viii. Abernethy, a fragment only (ib., I. 49).

ix. Forteviot, at Bankhead, near Dupplin Castle, a
beautiful cross with limbs; there were once two
others, respectively half a mile north and half a
mile south of it (ib., I. 57, 58).

X. Gask, the "Boar Stone" (ib., I. 103, 104).
xi. Fowlis Wester, 2 miles E. of Crieff (ib., I. 60).
xii. Crieff (ib., I. 65). See also Bishop Forbes's
account of the bell of St. Fillan (Soc. Antiq.
Scotl., vol. VIII. Edinb. 1870).

xiii. Balquhidder, several stones, with crosses incised, on
one an ecclesiastic with chalice; on another a
Greek cross, with a human figure and a two-
handed sword (Stuart, II. 67, 68).

b There is a part of a stone also at Goodlieburn near Perth, which once had upon it in relief a figure of our Lord, with the head surrounded by a glory. It is too fragmentary

VOL. II.

Eastern part of the county,N.E. of Perth.

Up the Tay or its tributaries.

Along the Earn.

to have an exact date assigned to it, but it looks late. See Stuart, Sculpt. Stones, II. App. III. p. xlviii.

K