Aberlemno sculptured stones

Aberlemno 4, the Flemington Farm Stone was found 30 yards from the church (grid reference NO524556),[2] and is now on display in The McManus, Dundee.

The rear face features two Pictish symbols, a notched rectangle with z-rod and a triple disc.

It has an elaborately decorated ringed cross flanked by adoring angels on one side, and a hunting scene on the reverse, below two large Pictish symbols.

[13] The anterior portion of the beast symbol (facing right) has suffered some damage due to ploughing, but is still easily visible.

The Woodwrae Stone was recovered from a ruined castle that occupied a position 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) north of Aberlemno.

[15] On the rear of Aberlemno 2 is a scene showing human figures bearing weapons, apparently engaged in battle.

The earliest record of the stone by Hector Boece, from the 16th century, links the scene with the Battle of Barry (now known to be historically inauthentic): 82.

Parem cladem nobilissimus Danorum manipulus est sortitus ad Aberlemnonem vicum vix a Bretheno, nunc civitate episcopali sede honestata, quatuor passuum millibus, qui a Scotis interceptus ibidem ferro occubuit.

Huic animantium effigies nonnullis cum characteribus artificiose, ut tum fiebat, quae rem gestam posteritati annunciarent, sunt insculptae.

Here a great stone was erected, carved with lifelike figures and an artfully-engraved inscription (according to the lights of those days) to record this achievement for posterity.

[16]This interpretation persisted well into the mid-19th century,[17] some time after antiquarian George Chalmers identified Dunnichen as a possible site of the Battle of Dun Nechtain.

This, coupled with the stone's proximity to Dunnichen (3 miles (5 km) to the south) led to the interpretation made by historian Graeme Cruickshank that the scene was a depiction of the Battle of Dun Nechtain.

[22] The subsequent identification of Dunachton in Badenoch as a second candidate for the site of the battle,[23] and the revised dating of the stone to the mid-9th century[24] has weakened Cruickshank's argument somewhat, and alternative interpretations have been made, including that the scene depicts a battle between Picts and Vikings,[25] or that it is a memorial to the 8th-century Pictish king Óengus I,[26] or even that it represents a spiritual struggle.