Sculptured Stones

August BHS Visit to Angus

ianbhs

17 BHS members participated in the final BHS summer excursion for a 4-day trip to the Angus area to visit a number of archaeological and historical sites, predominantly owned by Historic Environment Scotland, from Monday the 22nd to Thursday the 25th of August.

On the Monday, we visited the Meigle Sculptured Stone Museum, the Eassie Sculptured Stone and the four sculptured stones at Aberlemno before travelling to the George Hotel in Montrose, our base for the following days. We were very lucky that John Borland, who presented a talk on Medieval Sculptured Stones for us in January, was able and keen to join us for the day and to guide us through the meaning of many of the Pictish symbols.

Tuesday took us to Arbroath Abbey and the Arbroath Signal Tower Museum in the morning, and to the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Montrose Basin Visitor Centre in the afternoon.

Further Pictish sculptured stones were inspected at the St. Vigeans Sculptured Stones Museum on Wednesday morning with a visit to the neighbouring St. Vigeans Parish Church before driving to Forfar to see more Pictish stones in the Meffan Institute Museum and Art Gallery.

On the final morning, we visited the National Trust for Scotland’s House of Dun and gardens just to the west of Montrose which included an informative and interesting guided tour of the interior of the house. In the afternoon, many of the fifteen members of the group managed to visit other sites on their way back to the Aberfeldy area which included the White and Brown Caterthun iron age hill forts to the north of Brechin and Restenneth Priory just to the east of Forfar.

If you would like further information on all the sites we visited, you will find a more comprehensive narrative with many more photographs on this page in our website:

https://breadalbane-heritage.org.uk/bhs-visit-to-angus-in-august-2022/

Fortingall Sculptured Stones’ visit

ianbhs

Wednesday, 6th July, 2022 tour of the Pictish stones in Fortingall Kirk and kirkyard led by John Borland.

Twenty members of the BHS gathered in Fortingall Kirk on 6 July to hear John Borland talk about the remarkably rich selection of fragments of carved stones displayed within the church and also outside.  John is well known to many of our members, having previously given talks on the subject both at BHS meetings and at TAFAC conferences.  He worked as an archaeological surveyor for the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland for many years, the main focus of his work being the recording of Scotland’s Pictish and Early Medieval sculpture. 

Before looking at and discussing the examples of the carved stones within the kirk and those in the courtyard, John talked about the history and development of sculptured stones in this area.

Some of the pieces of carved stones, dating to around 800 AD, were discovered during the demolition of the previous church in 1901, having been built into the walls of the church.  

Their remarkably crisp carving, having been protected from the elements for many centuries, contrasts with the worn condition of some of the ancient grave slabs displayed against the walls of the church outside.  

John pointed out that the stone on display on the north wall behind the pulpit, which is made up of three linked ringed crosses, is of a very rare type.  

Other examples of three simply-incised crosses can be seen on one of the stones outside.  Another stone is carved with what appears to be the folds of robes worn by angels or saints.  

John observed that none of the finely carved stones were made from locally-obtained material but of a fine grey sandstone, which may have come from Strathmore and is similar to that of the Pictish cross slabs in the museum at Meigle.

Some of the recent additions to the magnificent assemblage of sculptured stones at Fortingall were discovered lying on the top of the Kirk’s boundary walls which had become exposed after the local council had cut back the creeping ivy from the walls.

After the talk, when a tour of the kirkyard was made, John made the interesting observation that the large natural boulder with a deep circular water-filled hole cut into it, which lies next to the porch, may not have been used as a christening font as we know it.  It could, he said, have been on the ground beside the church entrance and been used for foot washing, or for the baptism of recently-converted adults where the person stood in the water for the ceremony.

Everyone who attended this talk and tour agreed that it had been a fascinating and informative morning, and we are very grateful to John Borland for yet again giving up his time to help us learn more about the rich cultural heritage of this area.

If you would like to view the talk, ‘The Early medieval Sculpture of Highland Perthshire’, which John presented to the Breadalbane Heritage Society on Friday, 21st January, 2022, you can view this here:

If you wish to view this video at a larger size, click on the ‘full screen’ button at the bottom right-hand corner of the image above:

The Early Medieval Sculpture of Highland Perthshire

ianbhs

A talk presented on Zoom by John Borland to the Breadalbane Heritage Society on Friday, 21st January, 2022.

In this talk, John gave an overview of the early medieval sculpture of Highland Perthshire, following its distribution from west to east along the glens and straths, highlighting what is rare and unusual.  He examined the distribution of the sculpture to see what that tells us about its cultural origins and thus assess just how “Pictish” this part of Perthshire was.

John Borland worked as an archaeological surveyor for the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland and Historic Scotland (RCAHMS) and then Historic Environment Scotland (HES) for 36 years, retiring as Measured Survey Manager in May 2020.  In that time, John had the opportunity to survey almost every type of archaeological and architectural monument, from Neolithic chambered cairns to WWII coastal batteries and everything in between, including castles, churches, croft houses and country houses.  However, the main focus of his work latterly was recording Scotland’s Pictish and other Early Medieval sculpture.  

John has been a member of the Pictish Arts Society for more than 20 years and is the current PAS President.

You can view John’s talk here:

If you wish to view this video at a larger size, click on the ‘full screen’ button at the bottom right-hand corner of the image above:

This talk was presented on Zoom, but unfortunately due to the vagaries of local internet connections, John’s speech was disrupted in a number of occasions. However, the general content of his talk is still discernible during these instances.