Pictish stone is focus of meeting

Renovation costs of a rare Pictish cross uncovered in Doune are to be discussed by councillors.

- KAIYA MARJORIBANKS

The delicate stone, found in Old Kilmadock kirkyard, includes an inscription and carvings thought to date back 1,500 years to between AD500 and AD700.

It features a knotwork cross within a circle that includes the heads of long-necked birds above a carved animal, a boar or a wolf, that may have formed part of a hunting scene.

Around the edge is an inscription in ogham, an early medieval alphabet.

At a recent meeting of Stirling Council, Trossachs and Teith Conservative councillor Martin Earl asked council leader Cllr Gerry McGarvey to meet with him and other ward members.

The meeting will focus on “identifying and facilitating proportionate council support for the renovation costs of the internationally significant stone Pictish cross found and subsequently recovered from the Old Kilmadock Cemetery last year.”

Cllr McGarvey said: “Council officers are aware of the early medieval carved stone, the Old Kilmadock Pictish Cross that was uncovered by a group - the ROOKs (Rescuers of Old Kilmadock) at St Church and burial ground.

“Officers have been advised that the ROOKs group has applied for Scheduled Monument Consent to Historic Environment Scotland (HES) to recover the carved stone and associated fragments, and commissioned a number of technical reports.