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The Rosemarkie Stone or Rosemarkie Cross, a Class II
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Pictish stones Pictish stones in Highland (council area) Black Isle {{scotland-struct-stub fr:Pierres Pictes de Ross
The Rosemarkie Stone or Rosemarkie Cross, a Class II Pictish stone
A Pictish stone is a type of monumental stele, generally carved or incised with symbols or designs. A few have ogham inscriptions. Located in Scotland, mostly north of the River Clyde, Clyde-River Forth, Forth line and on the Eastern side of the ...
, is one of the major surviving examples of Pictish
Pictish is an extinct Brittonic Celtic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from late antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geog ...
art in stone.
Discovery
Carved from fine-grainedsandstone
Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
, the Rosemarkie stone was found sometime prior to 1821 in the floor of the old church in the village of Rosemarkie
Rosemarkie (, from meaning "promontory of the horse stream") is a village on the south coast of the Black Isle peninsula in Ross-shire (Ross and Cromarty), northern Scotland.
Geography
Rosemarkie lies a quarter of a mile east of the town of ...
in Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
. Rosemarkie was the probable site of a major Pictish monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...
, on the Black Isle
The Black Isle (, ) is a peninsula within Ross and Cromarty, in the Scottish Highlands. It includes the towns of Cromarty and Fortrose, and the villages of Culbokie, Resolis, Jemimaville, Rosemarkie, Avoch, Munlochy, Tore, and North Kesso ...
of Easter Ross
Easter Ross () is a loosely defined area in the east of Ross, Highland, Scotland.
The name is used in the constituency name Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, which is the name of both a British House of Commons constituency and a Scotti ...
. When found, the stone was broken into two parts that have since been reconstructed. The reconstructed stone is now on display in Rosemarkie's Groam House Museum
Groam House Museum is a museum of Celts, Celtic and Picts, Pictish Art. Located in the village of Rosemarkie in the Black Isle, Scotland, its collection contains both the Rosemarkie Stone, one of the major surviving examples of Picts#Art, Pictish ...
.
Description
On the front side is an elaborately decorated cross, while on the reverse side are various common Pictish symbols, including three crescents and v-rods and a double-disc and Z-rod, as well as a smaller cross at the bottom. It is the only Pictish stone to bear three versions of the same symbol. The sides are also decorated with a number of interlace patterns.See also
* Rosemarkie sculpture fragmentsReferences
Further reading
* Fraser, Iain, Ritchie, J.N.G., ''et al.'', ''Pictish Symbol Stones: An Illustrated Gazetteer'', (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, 1999) * Jones, Duncan, ''A Wee Guide to The Picts'', (Musselburgh, 2003) * MacNamara, Ellen, ''The Pictish Stones of Easter Ross'', (Tain, 2003)External links
Am Baile
Pictish stones Pictish stones in Highland (council area) Black Isle {{scotland-struct-stub fr:Pierres Pictes de Ross