The Aberlemno Stones: Pictish Carvings and the Battle of Dun Nechtain

Why it matters

Aberlemno is a small farming village in Angus, but it holds one of the best groups of Pictish carved stones still standing where they were made to be seen. The Picts left almost no writing, so stones like these are among the clearest pictures we have of how they saw themselves: their symbols, their beliefs and, on one slab, their wars. The kirkyard stone carries one of the earliest detailed battle scenes in British art, often linked to the Pictish victory over the Northumbrians at Dun Nechtain in 685.

The stones

Aberlemno 1, the roadside symbol stone. Set into a recess in the dry-stone wall beside the road, this rough slab is carved with three of the mysterious Pictish symbols: a serpent, a double disc crossed by a Z-shaped rod, and a mirror and comb. On the other face are much older cup marks, showing the Picts reused a prehistoric stone. It is one of the finest symbol stones still near its original position.

Aberlemno 3, the tall roadside cross-slab. A few metres along, this slender slab has a ringed cross flanked by angels on one side and a hunting scene with two large symbols on the other. Its closest artistic parallels are in Easter Ross, especially the Hilton of Cadboll stone.

Aberlemno 2, the kirkyard cross-slab. About 300 yards south, in the churchyard, stands a 2.3-metre slab of Old Red Sandstone. The front is a cross covered in knotwork and spirals, with strange beasts around it. The back is the battle: two Pictish symbols at the top, and below them nine figures in three rows. Horsemen charge and flee, foot soldiers stand in ranks with spears and shields, and in the bottom corner a helmeted warrior lies dead while a raven pecks at him.

A fourth stone, found at nearby Flemington Farm in 1961, is now in The McManus museum in Dundee.

The battle on the stone

In 1985 the historian Graeme Cruickshank argued that the kirkyard scene shows the Battle of Dun Nechtain of 20 May 685, when the Pictish king Bridei son of Beli destroyed the Northumbrian army of King Ecgfrith, who was killed. The place usually identified with the battle, Dunnichen, is only about three miles south. The fallen warrior’s helmet, with its long nose-guard, looks like known Anglo-Saxon helmets. If he is right, the stone is a Pictish victory monument, and the dead man might even be Ecgfrith.

Not everyone agrees. Art historians now tend to date the slab to the 9th century, long after the battle, and a rival site for Dun Nechtain has been proposed at Dunachton in Badenoch. Others see a fight with Vikings, or a memorial to a particular king. The scene is still the most vivid picture of early medieval war in Scotland, whichever battle it shows.

Visiting

Aberlemno is on the B9134 about six miles north-east of Forfar. There is a small parking area by the roadside stones and you can walk to the kirkyard. The stones are free to see, but from about the end of September to the start of April they are shut inside wooden boxes to protect them from frost. Plan to come between April and September.

Around Aberlemno

Six miles north-east is Brechin, with its round tower and cathedral, scene of the Battle of Brechin in 1452 between the Gordons and the Lindsays. The town’s own distillery, Glencadam, is one of the last in Angus. Towards the coast, Arbikie grows the grain for its spirits on the family farm near Lunan Bay, and further south the red sandstone ruin of Arbroath Abbey is where the Declaration of Arbroath was sealed in 1320. Up the coast beyond Stonehaven, Dunnottar Castle is well worth the hour’s drive. For more stones with a story, see our guide to the famous stones of Scotland.

Sources

• Historic Environment Scotland — Aberlemno Sculptured Stones.
• Canmore — Aberlemno roadside and churchyard stones.
• Graeme Cruickshank, The Battle of Dunnichen (1985 and later editions).
• Wikipedia — Aberlemno Sculptured Stones (classification, dating, winter covers).