page_title: Meigle Sculptured Stone Museum
section_title: The stones
hierarchical_section_title: Meigle Sculptured Stone Museum / The stones
caption_attribution_description: English: The back of Meigle 4 Pictish stone, in the Meigle Sculptures Stone Museum.
context_page_description: The Meigle Sculptured Stone Museum is a permanent exhibition of 27 carved Pictish stones in the centre of the village of Meigle in eastern Scotland. It lies on the A94 road running from Coupar Angus to Forfar. The museum occupies the former parish school, built 1844. The collection of stones implies that an important church was located nearby, or perhaps a monastery. There is an early historical record of the work of Thana, son of Dudabrach, who was at Meigle in the middle of the 9th century during the reign of King Pherath. Thana was likely to have been a monk serving as a scribe in a local monastery that could have been founded in the 8th century. The stones contained in the museum were all found near Meigle, mostly in the neighbouring churchyard or used in the construction of the old church. The present church building dates to about 1870, the previous building having been destroyed in a fire on 28 March 1869. The stones are Christian monuments to the dead of the Pictish warrior aristocracy, who are depicted on the stones bearing their weapons or hunting.
context_section_description: About one third of the stones in the museum are Class II in nature (stones with symbols carved in relief and usually bearing a Christian cross). Most of the stones date to the 9th or 10th century AD and were intended as tombstones. The stones are carved from the local sandstone, which is suitable for fine sculpture. Some stylistic elements of the stones show the influence of Northumbria. The Pictish stones at Meigle have a distinct local style that includes an emphasis on aggressive biting beasts, the decorating of crosses with a diagonal key pattern and the usage of rounded heads on cross-slabs.
  The sandstone used to sculpt the monuments is old red sandstone, a relatively soft stone that lends itself to detailed carving but is susceptible to erosion. The monuments are likely to have been worked with iron tools such as chisels, punches and hammers, together with hammerstones and wooden mallets. The sculpted designs may have been copied from painted vellum pattern books.
  According to the local records, eight stones were lost before the close of the 19th century, including Meigle 10. Some of the surviving stones are parts of larger monuments and it is probable that other fragments are buried in Meigle churchyard or have been used in the construction of walls. Before being moved into the museum, Meigle 1 and Meigle 2 stood on either side of the northern entrance to the churchyard, in front of a grass-covered mound called Vanora's Grave. Some of the stones appear to have been trimmed and placed near the Grave in the 16th and 17th centuries in order to decorate it.
  Meigle 1 is a cross-slab. The stone was originally used as a standing stone two millennia before it was sculpted by the Picts, it has cup and ring marks low down on the back of the stone. The cross is Greek in style, with full circles at each of the four handles between the shaft and the arms. The inside of the cross is decorated with interlace patterns, the cross-point being decorated with spirals. The cross shaft itself is flanked by images of mythical beasts. It has an uncoordinated jumble of symbols arranged around a hunting scene on the other side. Among these are images of a winged figure that perhaps represents a Persian deity and of a kneeling camel, as well as a Pictish Beast, salmon, a serpent and Z-rod, a mirror, a comb, a dog's head, animals and horsemen. This stone originally stood on the west side of the northern entrance to the churchyard, opposite Meigle 2. Meigle 1 may be the oldest stone at Meigle, possibly carved in the late 8th century.
  Meigle 2 stands nearly 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) high. It has a cross on one side and depicts Daniel in the lions' den on the other. The form of the head of the cross is possibly based on that of a jewelled metal cross and is unique. The projecting boss at the centre of the cross has eight smaller bosses around it that probably symbolise the eight days of Passion Week running from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday inclusive. The shaft of the cross contains three pairs of sculpted animals facing each other, with interlaced tails and tongues, while other beasts fill the space between the cross and the outer border of the monument. The monument is the work of a master sculptor with the figures being cut in deep relief and arranged in an orderly fashion. Meigle 2 has projecting tenons on its top and sides and was probably intended to slot into a screen or wall. Local folklore holds that the representation of Daniel in the lions' den depicts King Arthur's wife Guinevere, known locally as Vanora. She was abducted by King Mordred and condemned by Arthur to be torn apart by wild beasts. The monument was said to mark her grave. Meigle 2 was originally located on the east side of the northern entrance to the churchyard, opposite Meigle 1, and in front of a mound identified in local folklore as Vanora's Grave. Apart from the scene representing Daniel, the back of the monument also contains various other sections. These include a mounted huntsman with two hounds at the top, with an angel hovering above the dogs. Below this there is a p
caption: The fragmented back of Meigle 4.[23]
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