The Kirriemuir Sculptured Stones are a series of Class II and III Pictish stones

Pictish stones

Pictish stones are monumental stelae found in Scotland, mostly north of the Clyde-Forth line. These stones are the most visible remaining evidence of the Picts and are thought to date from the 6th to 9th centuries, a period during which the Picts became Christianized...

 found in Kirriemuir

Kirriemuir

Kirriemuir, sometimes called Kirrie, is a burgh in Angus, Scotland.-History:The history of Kirriemuir extends to the early historical period and it appears to have been a centre of some ecclesiastical importance...

, Angus

Angus

Angus is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross and Dundee City...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. Their existence points to Kirriemuir being an important ecclesiastical centre in the late first millennium AD.

Location

The stones were found in the grounds of Kirriemuir Kirk . The stones are now on display at the Meffan Institute

Meffan Institute

The Meffan Institute is a museum and art gallery in Forfar, Angus. It houses a variety of exhibits of local interest in Angus, including a collection of Pictish stones, particularly the Dunnichen Stone and the Kirriemuir Sculptured Stones as well as Roman and Mediaeval artifacts found in the local...

 in Forfar

Forfar

Forfar is a parish, town and former royal burgh of approximately 13,500 people in Angus, located in the East Central Lowlands of Scotland. Forfar is the county town of Angus, which was officially known as Forfarshire from the 18th century until 1929, when the ancient name was reinstated, and...

, Angus

Angus

Angus is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross and Dundee City...

.

Kirriemuir 1

The slab is carved on both faces in relief

Relief

Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...

and, as it bears Pictish symbols, it falls into John Romilly Allen and Joseph Anderson's classification system as a class II stone.

Mirror and Comb symbols. Figures identified as Saints Anthony and Paul.

The stone is one of the latest to include pictish symbols, namely the mirror and comb, and can be dated with confidence to the late 9th/early 10th century.

Kirriemuir 2

Cross slab carved on both faces in relief. It too contains Pictish symbols and falls into John Romilly Allen and Joseph Anderson's classification system as a class II stone.

Gallery