Find Spot record MAB46075 - KINNEDDAR MANSE, DRAINIE

Class I and Class II Symbol stones and other sculptured stone fragments.

Class I and Class II Symbol stones and other sculptured stone fragments. The Class I symbol stone (Drainie 1) had been mutilated and squared by masons before being discovered. Now lost, but fragments of other stones are in Elgin Museum. Thirteen of them were found in old dykes around Kinneddar manse or were dug up in churchyard. The Class II Pictish stone is a cross-slab is of roughly dressed sandstone with traces of mortar on the reverse. It measures circa 46 x 38 x 8 cm but may have been broken off below the cross arms. The low relief carving is on one face only. The cross has round hollow angles and a central boss. The ornamentation on the cross is mostly obliterated except for the incised double circle and 4 lobed central motif of the boss, and key patterning on the arm near the comb symbol. The background panels have: 1) a double-sided comb surrounded by repetitive step symbol patterning; 2) an arch-type symbol with round ends suggesting a penannular bracelet and a plain mirror; 3) parts of two panels of key patterning. The slab probably originates from the Christian Pictish monastic settlement of Kinneddar, which is also one of the 12th Century AD sites of the Bishopric of Moray. Some 26 Pictish stones and fragments have been reported - most are now in Elgin Museum. The stones from this area include two pieces interpreted as shrine fragments: the David stone, carved in high relief and depicting a standing figure in classical style dress, identified as David, who is shown wrenching open the jaws of a lion. The second is part of a shrine panel, now comprising four adjacent fragments, the surface covered with key patterns, found when a grave was dug in the cemetery. When the Drainie Kirk was built (first service 1677), after Kinneddar and Ogston parishes were united, the ruinous Kinneddar Kirk and environs would have been a convenient source of stone for Drainie. For the 30 years until 1994 the slab lay in Gordonstoun House. In 1953 the ruins of the first Drainie Kirk were cleared when what is now RAF Lossiemouth extended a runway. The stones went to Gordonstoun as heritor of the Kirk and were dumped in the grounds. In about 1965, when a master was collecting stone to build a wall around the garden at the School House, Altyre, this dump was raided. It was recognised as a Pictish stone, although no more were found. The wall built contains other dressed stones from the Kirk.

STUART, J, 1856, SCULPTURED STONES OF SCOTLAND, 40 PL 129,No15 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1800.

PICTISH STONES

ALLEN, JR, 1903, EARLY CHRISTIAN MONUMENTS OF SCOTLAND 3, 142-49 (Bibliographic reference). SAB3.

PICTISH STONES

FERGUSON, W, 1956, NOTE ON A FRAGMENT OF SCULPTURED STONE IN ELGIN MUSEUM. IN PSAS 88 (1953) 225., PSAS 88, 225 (Bibliographic reference). SAB2553.

SCOTTISH CASTLE SURVEY, 1995, SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL PALACES PROJECT (Bibliographic reference). SAB3298.

TRYTHALL, J, 1996, DES, 75 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1968.

PICTISH STONE

DRANSART, P, 2001, TWO SHRINE FRAGMENTS FROM KINNEDAR. IN REDKNAP, M. ET AL (EDS) PATTERN AND PURPOSE IN INSULAR ART. 233-239 (Bibliographic reference). SAB4041.

FRASER, I, 2008, THE PICTISH SYMBOL STONES OF SCOTLAND, 110-111 (Bibliographic reference). SAB2523.

FIRTH, D, 2023, THE EARLY CHURCH AND THE LOCH OF SPYNIE IN MORAYSHIRE (Bibliographic reference). SAB4207.

Jan 1 1993 , AAS/GR/93/CT52-115,192-96, AAS/GR/93/CT52-115,192-96 (Ground Photograph). SAB32878.

Jul 19 1994 , AAS/94/14/G27/10-12, AAS/94/14/G27/10-12 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB31125.

Author unknown, n.d., THE NORTHERN SCOT, 01/03/80 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1270.

PICTISH STONES

Oct 3 1978 , 576506-512, 576506-512 (Ground Photograph). SAB30472.

Oct 3 1978 , 576601-610, 576601-610 (Ground Photograph). SAB30474.

Oct 3 1978 , 576701-712, 576701-712 (Ground Photograph). SAB30473.

Record last edited

Jan 3 2025 12:15PM