Sculptured stone

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This sculptured stone carved with Pictish symbols and an ogham inscription once stood at the end of a long mound near Ackergill in Caithness. It is from a pagan, Pictish cemetery, erected sometime between 600 and 800.

The stone bears the remains of a fish symbol above a rectangle filled with curvilinear patterns. To the left is part of an ogham inscription reading 'NEHTEHRI...', perhaps a form of the name Nechton, known from Pictish historical sources.

The adoption of Christianity in Scotland was gradual. Many areas remained non-Christian in their traditions for some time. In eastern and northeast Scotland people were buried under mounds of various shapes, sometimes grouped into cemeteries.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-100-043-493-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.IB 168
• Date: Between 600 and 800
  
• Material: Slate; with ogham inscription and fish symbol
  Symbol stone
  
• Dimensions: 1350 mm H x 120 mm L x 680 mm W
  
• What: Symbol stone
  
• Subject:
• Who:
• Where: Scotland, Caithness, Wick, Ackergill
  
• Event:
• Description: Pictish symbol stone of slate with ogham inscription and a fish symbol, from Ackergill, Caithness, 7th or 8th century
  
• References:
  • Close-Brooks, J. & Stevenson, R. B. K. Dark Age Sculpture. Edinburgh: HMSO, 1982 
• Translations:
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