Sueno’s Stone, Forres: Scotland’s Tallest Pictish Cross-Slab and Its Carved Battle

Why it matters

On the edge of Forres, in a quiet spot on the old road towards Findhorn, a slab of sandstone rises 6.5 metres inside a tall glass box. Sueno’s Stone is the largest surviving cross-slab of its type in Scotland and one of the most extraordinary carved monuments in Europe from its time. One side carries a great cross; the other is covered in a battle told in panels like a strip cartoon, with ranks of horsemen, lines of foot soldiers and rows of headless bodies. Nobody knows for certain which battle it shows or who put it up, and that mystery is half the attraction.

What is carved on it

• The west face is dominated by a tall cross filled with interlace. Below it is a worn group of figures that may show a royal inauguration.
• The east face is the battle, in four panels. At the top come horsemen; next, armed foot soldiers; then the aftermath, with decapitated bodies laid out, their heads piled together, and what may be a broch or tower; and at the bottom the victors march away.
• The narrow sides are carved with flowing vine-scroll.

Who was Sueno?

The name comes from the 16th-century historian Hector Boece, who decided the stone celebrated a victory over the Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard, and later writers credited Malcolm II with beating Sueno’s Norsemen here. Modern historians have dropped that story, and the stone is now generally dated to the second half of the 9th century, long before Sweyn. Radiocarbon dates from charcoal found around its base fall between AD 600 and 1000.

The main theories are that it commemorates a victory of the Gaelic Scots over the Picts in the time of Kenneth MacAlpin or his successors; that it records the killing of King Dubh, who died in 966; or that it shows a real battle between the Picts and Vikings. Excavations in 1990–91 found signs that it once had a partner: maps from about 1590 to 1790 show a second great stone nearby that has since vanished.

Saving the stone

In the early 18th century Lady Ann Campbell, Countess of Moray, had stepped plinths built around the base to keep it upright. Centuries of weather still wore the carving away, and in the early 1990s the stone was sealed inside its armoured glass case. The glass reflects, so come on a dull day or go round to the shaded side to see the battle panels clearly.

Visiting

The stone stands at the north-east edge of Forres, signposted from the A96, with roadside parking beside it. It is free and open at all times. Forres also has Shakespeare connections: Macbeth has the king and his court at Forres, and the witches meet Macbeth on a heath nearby.

Around Forres

Forres is whisky country. Benromach, one of the smallest distilleries on Speyside, is a short walk from the stone. A few miles east of town is Glenburgie, and towards the coast at Burghead stands the giant modern Roseisle distillery. Heading west towards Nairn, Royal Brackla near Cawdor was the first distillery to hold a royal warrant, and the village of Auldearn gave its name to the Battle of Auldearn, one of Montrose’s great victories in 1645. For the full run of distilleries inland, follow our Speyside whisky trail. For more stones with a story, see our guide to the famous stones of Scotland.

Sources

• Historic Environment Scotland — Sueno’s Stone, Statement of Significance (2015).
• Canmore — Forres, Sueno’s Stone (site record and 1990–91 excavation).
• A. Jackson, “Further thoughts on Sueno’s Stone”, and A. A. M. Duncan, Scotland: The Making of the Kingdom.