MHG3413 - Balblair Stone - Moniack Castle

Summary

No summary available.

Type and Period (1)

  • INSCRIBED STONE (Early Medieval - 561 AD to 1057 AD)

Protected Status

Full Description

NH54SE 9 5518 4357.

In the rockery at Moniack Castle is a stone, about 4 1/2 ft. in height, bearing the outlined figure of a man with a stick or other instrument in his hand, and fourteen cup-marks, one of which has been mistaken for the eye of the figure. The stone stands at the end of the rockery farthest from the entrance gate. 'This stone was brought from a spot where it stood for a time, close to the old parish school of Kilmorack, near Kilmorack Free Church. It was however, removed to this place between fifty and sixty years ago, from a spot 100 yard further west, when the ground was then reclaimed. There is nothing known of the stone, traditional or otherwise, beyond this (These sitings place the original location in the vicinity of Balblair. (NH 50 45))
W Jolly 1882.

This stone, at NH 55184357, is basically as described by Jolly, it is 1.3 metres high, 0.8 metres wide and 0.3 metres thick. Apart from the figure of a man, only three cup marks are now visible.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (R D) 21 December 1964

Class I symbol stone.
A Mack, 1997

Scheduled as 'Balbalir Stone, symbol stone, Moniak [Moniack] Castle Wineries... an earthfast, upright carved stone bearing abstract and figurative carving which is prehistoric and early medieval in date'.
The stone is 1.3m high, 0.8m wide and 0.3m thick, and displays the Pictish carving of a man apparently walking from left to right holding a staff or sword, as well as prehistoric cupmarks. It is situated within a modern garden rockery immediately SW of Moniak [Moniack] Castle.
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 9 March 2007.

Sources/Archives (7)

Map

Location

Grid reference Centred NH 5517 4356 (6m by 6m) (Buffered by site type)
Map sheet NH54SE
Civil Parish KIRKHILL
Geographical Area INVERNESS

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