BGCP_03

Site co-ordinates: 44.5/26.7

Fisher 1996 D; HES (RCAHMS EMCSP Balquhidder) no.8 slab see here

Photogrammetry here

The sandstone (Canmore) cross-slab is 1.75m long (E–W) and up to 0.55m wide. It has a straight northern side, but its southern side curves NE to a point at its eastern end. There is a prominent notch at its NE corner, suggesting that it has been damaged at some point in its history. It has an irregular convex western end.The slab (at NN 5358720918) lies 1.5 m east of the eastern end of the old church’s eastern wall, on the south side of the gravel path leading to the church’s entrance, and it is flanked on its north side by slab BGCP_00 which is partly buried in the path.The stone has been heavily worn, and has a mainly smooth upper surface,with only a faint trace of its decoration still visible.This comprises a Roman cross with slightly expanded arms carved in relief. The relief is deepest at the junctions of the arms, but the full extent of only the northern (right) arm remains visible, with the ends of the other arms completely worn away.

Fisher describes this slab as an “?equal arm cross”, and the 2007 ink drawing  see here (CanmoreSC 2217970) shows a clear terminal to its slightly longer eastern (bottom) arm. However, no trace of this terminal is indicated either in the 2014 photograph (CanmoreDP 203726), or by the 2025 photogrammetry,and given the interpretative nature of the drawing a shafted cross cannot be entirely ruled out.

There are other crosses in the cemetery bearing crosses of similar scale and execution and while some appear to be shafted (eg,RCAHMS EMCSP stones 2 and 5 see here) equal-arm crosses are less easy to identify with certainty?

For further information on sources see BGCP Bibliographic References