caithness-1911/05_206

Transcription

[Page] 122 HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.

PARISH OF THURSO.

a large slab at the side of the passage, a flat-bottomed urn, measuring
some 4 1/2" in height, decorated in bands of chevron ornament,
separated by horizontal lines. This vessel passed into the possession
of Sir Francis Tress Barry, and is now in the National Museum of
Antiquities, Edinburgh.* The base of the cairn is marked by a
setting of large boulders from 2' to 4' in length, placed on edge at
irregular intervals.
O.S.M., CAITH., xii. Visited, 7th September 1910.

MISCELLANEOUS.

443. Font, Thurso. - In rear of the houses in Miller's Lane, Thurso,
lies an old octagonal block of freestone with a deep circular basin
on the top. It measures 1' 4" in height, 2' 1" in diameter over all,
and 1' 7" across the basin. The depth of the basin is 1'. There
are no tracesof ornament on it. This is said to be the font of
St Peter's Church.

444. Sculptured Stone, Thurso Castle. - This sculptured symbol
stone, known as "The Ulbster Stone" (pl. XLI.), at one time stood in
the old burial-ground at Ulbster, from whence it was removed to its
present position on the summit of a high conical mound by the side
of the avenue, and some 150 yards distant from the front of Thurso
Castle. The stone, which is fully illustrated and described in The
Early Christian Monuments of Scotland, is of old red sandstone,
approximately rectangular; measures 5' in height by 3' in width
at the top, and 2' 6" at the bottom, and is 7 1/2" thick. Sculptured
partly in relief and partly with incised lines on both faces are the
following details : Front - In the centre a cross with a head, having
equal arms terminating in square ends, cusped hollows in the angles
between the arms ; a narrow shaft, and a rectangular base. In the
background of the cross, and on each side of the arms, are animals,
one apparently intended for a cow. On the left of the shaft two men
kneeling with a cauldron (?) between them ; and below, a serpent. On
the right of the shaft the flower symbol ; and below, a horse and colt.
The cross in the centre of the slab is entirely covered with ornament,
arranged in ten separate panels filled in with the key pattern, inter-
laced work, and four-cord plait. Back - In the centre a plain Latin
cross with four equal arms ; at the top the elephant, fish, crescent,
and V-shaped rod symbols, and a beast with the tail curved over its
back. Below, the step, hippo-campus, and double disc symbols (the
latter without the Z-shaped rod), two crescents, and a small circle.
It is greatly to be regretted that the cross on one face has been
mutilated by a modern inscription, "The Ulbster Stone," cut in
Gothic letters across it. Owing to the exposed situation in which
the stone at present stands, the sculpture has suffered considerably
and is likely to disappear.
See Early Christ. Mon., pt. iii. p. 33 (illus.).
O.S.M., CAITH., v. Visited, 6th August 1910.

445. Sculptured Stone, Thurso Museum. - In the museum at Thurso
lies in pieces a remarkably fine sculptured stone, taken from the

* Information supplied by Mr A. Murray, Land Steward, Stemster.