A glass cover now protects the richly carved Shandwick Stone near the sea. Clach a’ Charridh is a Class II Pictish stone, meaning a carved stone with a Christian cross on one face and Pictish symbols or scenes on the other.
One side carries a jewelled cross with raised spiral bosses, cherubim, beasts, serpent-like interlace, and double-disc motifs. The reverse is filled with Pictish symbols, animals, a hunting scene, and spiral panels. The stone fell in a storm in 1846, was re-erected, and since 1988 has stood inside a glass cover room.
What follows is drawn from published sources, with each claim labelled by how firmly it is established.
History
The stone was carved as a Class II Pictish monument with cross-face and symbol-face imagery.
Charles Cordiner published the earliest record of the stone in 1780.
Charles Petley recorded both faces in a paper written around 1811-12 and published in 1857.
The stone fell in a storm in 1846 and was re-erected.
A burial ground at the site was recorded in 1889 as last used during the 1832 cholera epidemic and ploughed under around 1885.
Since 1988 the stone has been encased in a glass cover room.
People
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Charles Cordiner
Published the earliest known record of the stone in 1780.
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Charles Petley
Illustrated both faces in an early nineteenth-century paper.
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Jill Harden
Guidebook author quoted on how cross-slabs may have been used.
Connections
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Photo: Mike Baldwin / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0 Shandwick
Local setting on the Tarbat peninsula.
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Photo: Richard Dorrell / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0 Hilton of Cadboll stone
Comparable spiral panel mentioned in the source pack.
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Tarbat peninsula
Easter Ross region rich in Pictish sculpture.
What to look for
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Jewelled cross
Cross-face with raised spiral bosses.
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Hunting scene
Reverse panel with horsemen, foot fighters, animals, and archer.
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Glass cover room
Modern protective enclosure installed in 1988.
Plan your visit
- Location
- 57.7475°N · 3.9247°W
- Access
- Open access
- Terrain
- Easy going
Opening & admission
- Stone is protected in a glass cover room near Shandwick.
Nearby places
Minor monument · Medieval
Market Cross, Church Street, Cromarty
Highland
Mercat cross with HES-listed pre-1800 evidence (1578).
- Easy path
Questions people ask
- What is Clach a' Charridh?
- It is the Shandwick Stone, a Class II Pictish cross-slab near Shandwick.
- What does Class II Pictish stone mean?
- It means the stone has a Christian cross as well as Pictish symbols or scenes.
- Why is it under glass?
- The source pack says it has been encased in a glass cover room since 1988.
- What does its Gaelic name mean?
- The pack gives Clach a' Charaidh as stone of the grave-plots.
Sources
Explore more: Carved stones · Pictish & early medieval · Highland
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