Gravestone

This early Christian gravestone was found in 1933 in the bed of the Liddel Water in Roxburghshire. It had apparently fallen there from a drystone dyke. The slab would originally have been set upright with the inscription reading vertically downwards.

The part of the stone that was in the ground is visibly less weathered than the rest.

On rare occasions before the Middle Ages a person's life was recorded and celebrated in death by recording his or her name on a gravestone. This is a very early Christian gravestone, where the identity of the deceased is defined by his father.

Record details

To search on related items, click any underlined text below.

• Online ID: 000-100-043-520-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.IB 240
• Date: 5th or 6th century
  
• Material: Sandstone
  Stone, grave
  
• Dimensions: 1830 mm H x 310 mm L x 560 mm W
  
• What: Stone, grave
  
• Subject:
• Who:
• Where: Scotland, Roxburghshire, Newcastleton, The Brox, Liddel River
  
• Event:
• Description: Early Christian gravestone of sandstone with a Latin inscription reading 'Here lies Carantus, son of Cupitianus', from Liddel Water, Roxburghshire, 5th or 6th century
  
• References:
  • Close-Brooks, J. & Stevenson, R.B.K. Dark Age Sculpture. Edinburgh: HMSO, 1982 
• Translations:
• Related Records: