Monument record MHG5726 - Cross slab - north of Raasay House, Raasay

Summary

A Pictish cross slab located (but not in its original position) to the north of Raasay House, Raasay.

Location

Grid reference Centred NG 5466 3675 (6m by 6m)
Map sheet NG53NW
Geographical Area SKYE AND LOCHALSH
Old County INVERNESS-SHIRE
Civil Parish PORTREE

Map

Type and Period (1)

Full Description

On OS 6" Map, Inverness 1904.

NG53NW 3.00 5467 3677

NG53NW 3.01 NG 546 368 Gate

(NG 5467 3677) Standing Stone (Sculptured) (NAT)
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1904)

On the summit of a rockery some 15' from the E side of the road 200 yards NNW of Raasay House is a dressed slab of native grey granite 4' 8" long, 1' 9" broad and 6" thick, bearing on the upper part of one face a Chi-Rho Cross set in a square, with the Pictish symbols a tuning-fork and crescent with divergent floriated rod below (RCAHMS 1928). The stone, which is not in situ, is said to have been found when the road from the pier to Raasay House was made, about 100 yards from the rock bearing a a similarly incised Chi-Rho cross (PSAS 1907). (NG53NW 2) Shown on a distribution map and dated to the second half of the 7th century on the evidence of the cross by Curle (1940), but see Radford (1942) and Stevenson (1955) who criticise this paper.
RCAHMS 1928; Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1907; C L Curle 1940; C R Radford 1942; R B K Stevenson 1955; J J Galbraith 1933.

A symbol stone as described above.
Visited by OS (A S P) 12 June 1961.

Class I symbol stone bearing a cross with underneath a tuning fork over a crescent and V-rod.
A.Mack 1997 p.113

The stone was recorded by members of ACFA in 2005 during their ongoing survey of the archaeological and historic monuments on Raasay. <1>

This cross slab with Pictish symbols and the cross-incised stone found nearby (MHG5725) exemplify the earliest phase of the interface between cross and symbol (Henderson & Henderson 2006, 174).
Currently (2008) at the entrance to a conifer plantation some 190m NNW of Raasay House (Fraser 2008).

Add to bibliography:

Henderson, George and Isabel 2006. The Art of the Picts: Sculpture and Metalwork in Early Medieval Scotland, 174.
Fraser, Iain 2008. The Pictish Symbol Stones of Scotland, no. 133. <1>

Sources/Archives (15)

  • --- Text/Publication/Article: Richardson, J S. 1907. Notice of kitchen-midden deposits on North Berwick Law, and other antiquities in the vicinity of North Berwick; with a note of an undescribed sculptured stone, with symbols, in the island of Raasay. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Vol.41. 424-36. 435-6; figs. 10-11.
  • --- Text/Publication/Article: Galbraith, J J. 1933. 'The Chi-Rho Crosses on Raasay: their importance and chronological relationships', Proc Soc Antiq Scot Vol. 67 1932-3, p.318-20. Proc Soc Antiq Scot. 318-20. 318-20.
  • --- Text/Publication/Article: Curle, C L. 1940. 'The chronology of the early christian monuments of Scotland', Proc Soc Antiq Scot Vol. 74 1939-40, p.60-117. Proc Soc Antiq Scot. 60-117. 60-117.
  • --- Text/Publication/Article: Radford, C A R. 1942. 'The early christian monuments of Scotland', Antiquity Vol. 16 1942, p.1-18. Antiquity. 1-18. 1-18.
  • --- Text/Publication/Article: McRoberts, D. 1963. 'The ecclesiastical significance of the St Ninian's Isle treasure', Proc Soc Antiq Scot Vol. 94 1960-1, p.301-14. Proc Soc Antiq Scot. 301-14. 309-10; pl. xxvii.
  • --- Text/Publication/Volume: Feachem, R W. 1963. A Guide to Prehistoric Scotland. 1st. 149-50.
  • --- Text/Publication/Volume: Jackson, A. 1984. The symbol stones of Scotland: a social anthropological resolution to the problem of the Picts.
  • --- Text/Publication/Volume: Mack, A. 1997. Field guide to the Pictish symbol stones. 141.
  • --- Text/Publication/Volume: MacKie, E W. 1975. Scotland: an archaeological guide: from the earliest times to the twelfth century. 221.
  • --- Text/Report: RCAHMS. 1911. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Third report and inventory of monuments and constructions in the county of Caithness. . 18, No. 46.
  • --- Text/Publication/Volume: Ritchie, J N G. 1985. Pictish symbol stones: a handlist 1985. 14.
  • --- Text/Publication/Article: Stevenson, R B K. 1955. Pictish art. SHG2904. 97-128. 97-128.
  • --- Image/Photograph(s): PSS. Class II, Clachan, Raasay. Digital Image. .
  • <1> Text/Publication/Monograph: Wood, J S and Macdonald, J (eds). 2005. An Archaeological Survey of St Moluag's Chapel and Pictish Stones and Monuments of The Isle of Raasay. ACFA Occasional Papers. 82. Paper (Original). pp.28-9.
  • <1> Collection/Project Archive: Archaeology for Communities in the Highlands (ARCH). 2012. Digital site gazetteer and archive for ARCH Community Timeline Project: Broadford. Yes. Digital. Site 46.

Finds (0)

Protected Status/Designation

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Related Events/Activities (2)

Record last edited

Oct 8 2012 2:11PM

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