Find Spot record MHG45523 - Pictish symbol stone - St Ninians Chapel, Navidale
Summary
Location
| Grid reference | Centred ND 0418 1615 (6m by 6m) (Buffered by site type) |
|---|---|
| Map sheet | ND01NW |
| Geographical Area | SUTHERLAND |
| Old County | SUTHERLAND |
| Civil Parish | KILDONAN |
Map
Type and Period (1)
Full Description
Findspot of an Early Medieval symbol stone.
No trace of the chapel remains.
Visited by OS (J B) 24 June 1976.
The site of St. Ninian's Chapel of which no trace now remains (OS {W D J}). It is said to have had a sanctuary (Mackay 1894) and to have been burned by MacKays in 1556.
This site is presumably source of 'named' element in name 'Navidale' the implication of which is that Norse found a 'nemed' or sacred place here and named the 'dale' after it (Watson 1926). This pre-Norse foundation would appear to be confirmed by the finding of a Class 1 symbol stone in the burial ground, which is still in use and in which burnt stones are occasionally found during grave-digging.
Within the modern, hexagonal graveyard, which may preserve the outline of an earlier enclosure, is a roughly made oval, mounded area, covering greater part of interior and merging with walls on the NW & SE (Macdonald and Laing 1973). St. Ninian's Well lies nearby,on a pasture stretch on shore but could not be located in 1960 (OS {W D J}).
Within the graveyard was found a burial consisting of human bones, a flint implement and part of a palmated antler of one of the larger, extinct deer (Scott 1918).
The symbol stone, (found 1968) now in Dunrobin Museum No 25, is an un dressed rectangular slab, of local red sandstone, measuring 3ft 2ins by 1ft 6ins, and bearing, incised, a 'cauldron' symbol and a possible unfinished 'Pictish elephant'. This, together with the fact that the stone shows tooling towards the base, suggests that it is an unfinished work, produced near its findspot (Macdonald and Laing 1973).
Metric measurement - 0.94m x 0.43m x 0.08m thick.
R Gordon 1813; J Mackay 1894; A B Scott 1918; W J Watson 1926; A D S Macdonald and L R Laing 1973; Visited by OS (W D J) 26 May 1960.
'Site of St. Ninian's Chapel (NR)' marked on the 2nd ed 6" OS map of Caithness of 1909
Recorded as a find spot. Nothing visible during field survey.
For Dunrobin Museum see NC80SE 46.
Class I symbol stone bearing a triple-disc over an elephant
A.Mack 1997 p.127
Sources/Archives (8)
- --- SHG1593 Text/Publication/Article: Mackay, J. 1894. 'Sutherland place names', Trans Gaelic Soc Inverness Vol. 18 1891-2, p.183-208, 325-40. Trans Gaelic Soc Inverness. 183-208, 325-40. 328.
- --- SHG2273 Text/Publication/Volume: Weber, H (ed). 1813. Genealogical history of the Earldom of Sutherland by Sir Robert Gordon of Gordonstoun. 135.
- --- SHG2357 Text/Publication/Volume: Jackson, A. 1984. The symbol stones of Scotland: a social anthropological resolution to the problem of the Picts.
- --- SHG2456 Text/Publication/Volume: Mack, A. 1997. Field guide to the Pictish symbol stones. 127.
- --- SHG2712 Text/Publication/Volume: Ritchie, J N G. 1985. Pictish symbol stones: a handlist 1985. 14.
- --- SHG2771 Text/Publication/Volume: Scott, A B. 1918. The Pictish nation: its people and its church. 64, 84-5.
- --- SHG2918 Text/Publication/Volume: Watson, W J. 1926. The history of the Celtic place-names of Scotland: being the Rhind lectures on archaeology (expanded) delivered in 1916. 250.
- --- SHG692 Text/Publication/Article: Macdonald and Laing, A D S and L R. 1973. 'Early ecclesiastical sites in Scotland: a field survey, part II', Proc Soc Antiq Scot Vol. 102 1969-70, p.129-45. Proc Soc Antiq Scot. 129-45. 135, 136, 143.
Finds (1)
Protected Status/Designation
- None recorded
Related Monuments/Buildings (1)
Related Events/Activities (2)
Record last edited
Oct 31 2017 12:31PM
