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

of about the mid 8th century AD in the

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

Eassie Eassie is a village located along the A94 road in Angus, Scotland. The church in Eassie is dedicated to Saint Fergus, a monk who worked at nearby Glamis. Eassie is noted for the presence of the Eassie Stone, a carved Pictish stone. Other notab ...

, Angus, Scotland. The stone was found in Eassie

burn A burn is an injury to skin, or other tissues, caused by heat, cold, electricity, chemicals, friction, or ultraviolet radiation (like sunburn). Most burns are due to heat from hot liquids (called scalding), solids, or fire. Burns occur ma ...

in the late 18th century and now resides in a purpose-built perspex building in the ruined Eassie church.

Location

The cross slab is housed in a purpose-built shelter with see-through walls within the roofless shell of the old Eassie parish church, on the north side

A94 road A94 or A-94 may refer to: * A94 road (Great Britain), a major road in the United Kingdom * A 94 motorway (Germany), a partially constructed regional highway in Bavaria * Dutch Defence The Dutch Defence is a chess opening characterised by the ...

some west of

Glamis Glamis is a small village in Angus, Scotland, located south of Kirriemuir and southwest of Forfar. It is the location of Glamis Castle, the childhood home of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. History The vicinity of Glamis has prehistoric ...

and east of

Meigle Meigle ( gd, Mìgeil, ) is a village in Strathmore, Scotland. It lies in the council area of Perth and Kinross in the Coupar Angus and Meigle ward. It lies on the A94 road between Perth and Forfar. Other smaller settlements nearby are Balk ...

Description

The stone is a cross-slab high and wide, tapering to at the top, and is thick. The slab is carved on both faces in

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

and, as it bears Pictish symbols, it falls into

John Romilly Allen John Romilly Allen FSA FSAScot (9 June 1847 – 5 July 1907) was a British archaeologist. Life Allen was the son of George Baugh Allen. He was educated at King's College School, Rugby and King's College London. In 1867 he was articled to Georg ...

and Joseph Anderson's classification system as a class II stone. The cross face bears a cross with circular rings in its angles, surrounding a circular central boss decorated with a keywork design. The arms and shaft are decorated with a variety of complex interlaced knotwork designs. The upper quadrants held a pair of angels, but have suffered some damage, the right-hand figure being almost completely lost. A similar four-winged angel can be found on the nearby Glamis 2 stone. The lower left-hand quadrant shows a cloaked warrior armed with a small square

buckler A buckler (French ''bouclier'' 'shield', from Old French ''bocle, boucle'' 'boss') is a small shield, up to 45 cm (up to 18 in) in diameter, gripped in the fist with a central handle behind the boss. While being used in Europe since ant ...

and spear, and the lower right-hand quadrant depicts a stag and hunting hounds. The rear face of the slab bears a mixture of figural representations and Pictish symbols. At the top of the face is a damaged

Pictish beast The Pictish Beast (sometimes Pictish Dragon or Pictish Elephant) is an artistic representation of an animal depicted on Pictish symbol stones. Design The Pictish Beast is not easily identifiable with any real animal, but resembles a seahorse, ...

over a double disc and Z-rod. Below this is a trio of cloaked figures, and to the right is a figure standing in front of a potted tree, which historian Lloyd Laing has interpreted as having human heads suspended from its branches. Below this lie heavily weathered horseshoe and Pictish beast symbols. The bottom of the face holds representations of cattle that have suffered some weathering.

History

The cross-slab was found in the bed of the Eassie Burn, near Eassie Church by Rev. Cordiner, c. 1786. From there it was moved to the churchyard, where it stood for over a century, until the 1960s when a purpose-built building with viewing windows was built for it within the structure of the ruined church. The church itself was probably built in the 16th century on the site of an earlier building.

Relationship with other stones

The Eassie stone belongs to the Aberlemno School of Pictish sculpture as extended by Lloyd Laing from Ross Trench Jellicoe's original proposed list. In addition to the Eassie stone, stones in the Aberlemno School include Aberlemno 2 (the Kirkyard Stone), Aberlemno 3, Menmuir 1, Kirriemuir 1, Monifieth 2, Rossie Priory, Glamis 1 and Glamis 2.

References

External links