Location
Inside the old cemetery/kirk yard on the West side of Fetterangus which is West of the A92, the stone is against the wall to the right of the gate.
Fetterangus, Aberdeenshire
OS Map Reference
NJ 981 506
Description
A class 1 symbol stone lies at the entrance to the graveyard of Fetterangus Church. It is of whinstone, 1.1m x 0.78m, and is much weathered, the carving is almost invisible to the naked eye, Near the top was a triple disc and bar or "cauldron" symbol below which was a rimmed "mirror case" its base containing opposed arcs with a palimpsest of another circular symbol overlapping it, at the bottom was a figure composed of a horizontal line and 2 curved lines one with a spiral end. Note some published descriptions are given with the stone the opposite way up to the above. Fairly clear photographs taken by Professor James Ritchie circa 1904 can be seen on the RCAHMS website (Archive Numbers: SC 676586, SC 676550, and SC1081353 the first stone shown on the linked page SC 676546 is another class 1 stone I cannot identify) follow the external link below .
Related Information
This stone has not been well treated it is now broken illegible and fixed to a wall with iron staples apparently upside down. I have an anecdotal account from a local resident that it was broken when thrown out by workmen clearing the cemetery who did not know what it was until they were informed by a passing villager. The treatment of Pictish artefacts throughout the 20th century has not been very admirable. It is disturbing when you think this artefact (a scheduled monument) had survived in a reasonable condition for 1200-1400 years to be reduced to its present state in half a century.
Inside the cemetery is the ruin of a pre-reformation church, reputedly built circa 1120 and dedicated to St. Fergus, it was granted to the monks of St. Thomas of Arbroath by Ralph Le Neym about the year 1200. The grant was confirmed by King William the Lion.
Only the remnants of the four walls remain in the form of loose rubble stones on a slight mound in the yard.
Era
Dark ages
Information Source
Mack, A (1997 )
Field guide to the Pictish symbol stones, Balgavies, Angus, 75,
RCAHMS (1994 c) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Pictish symbol stones: a handlist 1994, Edinburgh.
Buchan, The Historic Kirkyards in the Parishes of : Crimmond, Cruden, Longside, Lonmay, New Deer, Old Deer, Peterhead, St. Fergus, Strichen. ref: http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/archaeology/projects/buchan.pdf.
Related Artefacts
Categories
Iconography
- pictish symbols
External Links
Photographer
- Stanley Bruce
Unavailable Data
- Date
- Creator
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