Nigg Stone

The reverse or "secular" side of the stone in a 19th-century illustration, minus the top section.

Top most fragment, showing depictions on both the front and reverse of the stone.

The Nigg Stone is an incomplete Class II Pictish cross-slab, perhaps dating to the end of the 8th century.^[1] The stone was originally located at the gateway to the grounds of the parish church of Nigg, Easter Ross. It is one of the finest surviving Pictish carved stones, and one of the most elaborate carved stones surviving from early medieval Europe. It is now displayed, restored to its original proportions, in a room inside the parish church (open in summer; key kept locally). It bears an elaborately decorated cross in high relief on the 'front' and a figural scene on the reverse. This scene is extremely complicated and made more difficult to interpret by deliberate defacement. Among the depictions are two Pictish symbols: an eagle above a Pictish Beast, a sheep, the oldest evidence of a European triangular harp, and hunting scenes. Scholars interpret the scene as representing a story of the biblical King David. The carvings on the cross side show close similarities to the contemporary high crosses of Iona. These works may indeed have been created by the same 'school' of carvers, working for different patrons. The stone was shattered in the 18th century. The upper and lower parts were crudely joined together using metal staples (now removed), and the shattered intervening part was discarded. Part of the missing fragment was recovered in 1998 by Niall M Robertson, in the stream which runs below the mound on which the churchyard is set, having probably been thrown down the bank at the time the slab was 'repaired'. This small fragment shows most of the 'Pictish beast' symbol, and was preserved in Tain Museum, until being reattached during a restoration in 2013.^[2]

Notes

↑ STAMS, University of Strathclyde, UK: Pictish Stones Search Facility
↑ "Easter Ross's Nigg cross-slab restoration completed". BBC News. 10 April 2013. Retrieved 11 April 2013.

References

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

External links

Am Baile
Strathclyde University STAMS Pictish Stone Search Facility.
Nigg Old Trust

Pictish sculptured stones

Ross	Ardjachie Stone Dingwall Stone Edderton Cross Slab Edderton Standing Stone Gairloch Stone Hilton of Cadboll Stone Nigg Stone Poolewe Stone Portmahomack sculpture fragments Rosemarkie Stone Rosemarkie sculpture fragments Rosskeen Stone Shandwick Stone Strathpeffer Stone

Badenoch and Strathspey	Advie Stone Ballintomb Stone Congash Stones Dunachton Stone Findlarig Stone Grantown Stone Inverallan Stone Lynchurn Stone

Moray	Dandaleith stone Rodney's Stone Sueno's Stone

Inverness	Balbair Stones Culaird Stone Dores Stone Drumbuie Stone Garbeg Stone Invereen Stone Kingsmills Stone Knocknagael Stone Lochardill Stone Torgorm Stone

Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire	Ardlair Stone Aquhollie Stone Brandsbutt Stone Broomend of Crichie stone Cairnton stone Dyce stones Fordoun Stone Fyvie Stones Kintore stones Logie Elphinstone Stones Maiden Stone Migvie Stone Monymusk Stone Nether Corskie Stone Newbigging, Leslie Stone Newton House Stones Picardy Stone Rhynie Stones Tillytarmont Stones

Angus	Aberlemno Sculptured Stones Balluderon Stone Camus Cross Drosten Stone Dunnichen Stone Eassie Stone Glamis Manse Stone Hunter's Hill Stone Kirriemuir Sculptured Stones Monifieth Sculptured Stones St Orland's Stone St Vigeans Sculptured Stones Strathmartine Castle Stone Woodwrae Stone

Perth and Kinross	Bullion Stone Dupplin Cross Meigle standing stones

Fife	Abdie stone

Coordinates: 57°43′10″N 4°0′31″W / 57.71944°N 4.00861°W / 57.71944; -4.00861

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