The Gairloch Stone is a Class-I

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 Clyde-Forth line and on the Eastern side of the country, these stones are ...

which was discovered at Achtercairn in

Wester Ross Wester Ross () is an area of the Northwest Highlands of Scotland in the council area of Highland. The area is loosely defined, and has never been used as a formal administrative region in its own right, but is generally regarded as lying to the ...

around 1880. Subsequently, the stone was used as masonry for the cemetery wall of

Gairloch Gairloch ( ; gd, Geàrrloch , meaning "Short Loch") is a village, civil parish and community on the shores of Loch Gairloch in Wester Ross, in the North-West Highlands of Scotland. A tourist destination in the summer months, Gairloch has a go ...

's church. It has survived only imperfectly, but on it are still visible a

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

- probably a

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

- and, above, the lower part of a bird. The bird is probably an

eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

, common on Pictish stones, but a goose has also been suggested. The stone currently resides in

Gairloch Heritage Museum Gairloch Museum ( gd, Taigh-tasgaidh Gheàrrloch) is an independent museum in the Wester Ross region of Scotland. The museum is located in the Highland village of Gairloch, in Achtercairn. The museum moved to a new site in 2019- a former Cold Wa ...

, http://www.gairlochheritagemuseum.org

References

External links

* Pictish stones in Highland (council area) Gairloch {{scotland-struct-stub