BGCP_36: cross

Site co-ordinates: 48.70/25.10

Fisher C; HES (RCAHMS EMCSP Balquhidder) no. 7 slab see here

Photogrammetry here

This fragment of a larger broken slab measures 0.77 m (W–E) by up to 0.57 m (N–S). It has clearly been broken on its irregular N side, and the cross carved on it lies asymmetrically towards the N and has lost part of its N arm. The W and E faces are straighter and near parallel, and so could be the sides of a wider and originally much longer slab, while its S side has a regular convex line which may indicate the head of the slab. The stone slopes 15° to the S.

However, the cross carved in raised relief on the stone has a longer arm to the E (0.16 m) than to the W (0.14 m) possibly indicating that the head of the slab lies at the W. While both the N and S arms have been damaged, it is possible that the N arm was originally the stem of a slightly asymmetrical cross carved near centrally at the head of a 0.77 m wide slab. The arms are all 0.12–0.13 m wide. 

The southern part of stone appears to have been cut down to a lower level than the surface on which the cross is carved, although this may be natural, or damage. The edges of this lower level are defined by two near-straight lines forming an apex above the cross’s S arm.

If the present S side of this stone was its original head, the stone has since been rotated 90° anticlockwise. This stone would be the widest of the presumed medieval grave slabs so far recorded in the graveyard. 

For further information on sources see BGCP Bibliographic References