The Clach a' Charridh or Shandwick 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 ar ...

located near

Shandwick Shandwick ( gd, Seannduaig), a village near Tain in Easter Ross, and is in the Scottish council area of Highland, Scotland. Hilton Hilton or Hylton may refer to: Companies * Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Inc., a global hospitality company ba ...

on the

Tarbat peninsula Tarbat (Gaelic , meaning 'a crossing or isthmus'Place-names of Ross and Cromarty, by W J Watson, publ. The Northern Counties Printing and Publishing Co. Ltd., Inverness 1904; p.45) is a civil parish in Highland, Scotland, in the north-east corner ...

Easter Ross Easter Ross ( gd, Ros an Ear) 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 constitu ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

. It is a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

Carving

It is a Class II stone, with the

cross A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a s ...

facing the seaward side, and the secular scene facing inland. The latter contains six panels, the first (from top to bottom) being a standard Pictish double-disc, the second being a Pictish Beast and the third being a possible hunting scene, with warriors depicted alongside an eagle, a boar, and various other creatures. The bottom three panels consist of woven patterns. The stone is now encased in a glass cover room.

History

The Gaelic name (''Clach a’ Charaidh'') means ‘stone of the grave-plots’. A burial ground here was recorded in 1889 as last used during the cholera epidemic of 1832 and ploughed under about 1885.

References

* Scott, Douglas, ''The Stones of the Pictish Peninsulas'', (Hilton Trust, 2004)

External links

Am Baile
Pictish stones in Highland (council area) Pictish stones Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Highland {{UK-archaeology-stub fr:Pierres Pictes de Ross