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MHG3360 - Findspot of symbol stone, Garbeg

Summary

A fragment of Pictish Stone, found during the excavation of a cairn in 1974. Now in Inverness Museum.

Type and Period (1)

Protected Status

Full Description

NH53SW 15.1 5110 3222

'This fragment found during the excavation of a small cairn in 1974 is now in Inverness Museum (Acc No 974.75); a thin slab of sandstone, it bears a fragmentary crescent and V-rod.'
RCAHMS 1985; L M M Wedderburn and D M Grime 1975. <1><2>

Included in a catalogue of the Pictish Symbol Stones at Inverness Museum & Art Gallery, original version 1994, updated 2010. Found within a disturbed stone cairn. The left hand portion of a crescent & V-rod symbol, with lobed infill inside the crescent. The top of a symbol of uncertain type sits below the right point of the V-rod. It may represent the mane of a Pictish Beast facing right.<3><4>

The barrow from which this symbol stone was recovered lies at the N end of the square barrow cemetery (NH53SW 15.00), at NH 5110 3226.
(URQ97 210)
Visited by RCAHMS (SDB) 4 September 1997

Class I symbol stone showing a crescent and V-rod with ? An elephant's antenna.
A Mack 1997

The stone is listed under Acc. No. 1974.075 in the Inverness Museum catalogue. <5>

Garbeg, Drumnadrochit, Inverness-shire, Pictish symbol stone fragment
Measurements: H 0.49m, W 0.95m, D 0.05m
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: NH 5110 3222
Present location: Inverness Museum & Art Gallery (INVMG 1955.30)
Evidence for discovery: found in 1974 just beneath the turf in the centre of a ditched circular cairn in a cemetery of round and rectangular platform cairns at Garbeg.
Present condition: broken and incomplete.
Description:
The fragment appears to be the top left corner of a symbol stone, with two intact edges. It is finely incised with part of an ornamented crescent and V-rod symbol, and there was clearly a second symbol below, represented by a curving design which could be the ‘lappit’ of a Pictish beast symbol. The rest of the slab was not found when the cairn was excavated.
Date: seventh century.
References: Wedderburn & Grime 1984; Fraser 2008, no 110.
Early Medieval Carved Stones Project, Compiled by A Ritchie 2017

Sources/Archives (12)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NH 5109 3221 (6m by 6m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NH53SW
Civil Parish	URQUHART AND GLENMORISTON
Geographical Area	INVERNESS

Finds (1)

Related Monuments/Buildings (1)

Related Investigations/Events (0)

External Links (1)