St Madoe's Stone , Perth Museum.
The most complete of all the pictish/Celtic stoones I saw on display on Monday, this was found lying down in St Madoes Churchyard, Perthshire during 1830's. . In the 1920s it was moved, in its base, to stand against the wall beside the church door. In the 1990s it was taken to Perth Museum & Art Gallery.
One side, as seen in my gif, is dominated by the ring-headed cross that fills what we can accept as the front of the slab. It is surrounded by biting dogs and with two lion-like creatures facing each other across the top of the stone.
The other side of the slab shows three cloaked and hooded riders, probably churchmen (possibly a reference to the road and its users between St Andrews and Scone) and below them three Pictish symbols: a crescent and v-rod, a double-disc and z-rod and a Pictish beast. The symbols are much worn due to exposure to the elements when it stood in thechurchyard.
In the first thousand years AD, the country we now call Scotland was dominated by changing groups of Celtic peoples, most notably the Picts. From AD 250-900, they controlled most of Scotland north of the River Forth. We do not know what they called themselves. The Picts – meaning “the painted ones” – is the name the Romans gave them. Their language has disappeared and no Pictish manuscripts are known to have survived. But their art does survive on over 300 pieces of carved stonework and a much smaller number of portable objects such as jewellery.
There at least 17 sites around the Perth area, they include Stone Circles, a Pictish Free-Standing Cross, Pictish Symbol Stones and stones with cup marks, cup and ring marks are by far the most common motif, if you remember, or have ever inspected the Caiy Stone, at Oxgangs, which I visited and posted pics of last year, there are 6 of thes type of marks on this stone.
Perth Museum has several fragments of smaller stones which I shall post at a later time.
