Meigle Sculptured Stone Museum

[4][5] The stones contained in the museum were all found near Meigle, mostly in the neighbouring churchyard or used in the construction of the old church.

[6] The building was purchased by the local laird Sir George Kinloch towards the end of the 19th century in order to protect the symbol stones.

[6] In 1936 the museum passed into the ownership of the State, it was renovated after the Second World War and reopened to the public in 1949.

[12] The Pictish stones at Meigle have a distinct local style that includes an emphasis on aggressive biting beasts, the decorating of crosses with a diagonal key pattern and the usage of rounded heads on cross-slabs.

[13] The monuments are likely to have been worked with iron tools such as chisels, punches and hammers, together with hammerstones and wooden mallets.

[13] According to the local records, eight stones were lost before the close of the 19th century, including Meigle 10.

[6] Some of the surviving stones are parts of larger monuments and it is probable that other fragments are buried in Meigle churchyard or have been used in the construction of walls.

[4] Among these are images of a winged figure that perhaps represents a Persian deity and of a kneeling camel, as well as a Pictish Beast, salmon, a serpent and Z-rod, a mirror, a comb, a dog's head, animals and horsemen.

[4][16] This stone originally stood on the west side of the northern entrance to the churchyard, opposite Meigle 2.

[17] The monument is the work of a master sculptor with the figures being cut in deep relief and arranged in an orderly fashion.

[19] Meigle 2 has projecting tenons on its top and sides and was probably intended to slot into a screen or wall.

[17] The next row down is the Biblical Daniel scene, below this is a centaur holding an axe in each hand and branches trailing behind him.

[17] The lowest section depicts a beast grasping an ox, a club-wielding human figure is positioned behind the aggressor.

[17] The stone has lost some detail due to erosion,[19] although this is concentrated at the lower part of the cross itself and suggests that some form of human activity regularly caused abrasion of that portion - the opposite side being less worn.

[22] On the other is inscribed a mounted warrior wearing a sword below his cape, the scabbard tipped with a chape.

[26] The back of the stone has, from top to bottom, a horse and rider, a double disc symbol, a crescent and a dog wearing a collar.

[26] It has an eroded cross on one side and the upper portion of two animals on the reverse, facing each other with forelegs in the opposing beast's mouth.

[12] It was a carved rectangular panel depicting a horse pulling a carriage bearing a driver and two passengers, the monument also showed a crouching archer and several beasts.

[12] The sculpture probably formed a part of a low church screen, possibly separating the chancel and the nave.

[27] The long sides of the stone have deeply recessed panels with wide borders that once were decorated but are badly worn.

[27] One side of the stone has the sculpted images of three mounted riders accompanied by a dog, behind them is a humanoid figure with an animal's head and gripping two entwined serpents.

[27] The other side of the monument is decorated with two intertwined animals followed by a dog and a bear, one above the other, and an unidentified object.

[28] It is a recumbent gravestone sculpted with a lozenge pattern along the upper surface and with a fish monster and an animal on one side.

[30] The shaft of the cross is filled with an interlace pattern, on the left are two fighting beasts, on the right side is another animal biting its own back.

[31] Meigle 22 is a piece of an architectural frieze bearing a sculpture of what has been identified as either the Pictish form of the Celtic god Cernunnos or else a siren, cross-legged with the entwined legs terminating in fish-tails.

[31] Meigle 23 is a small tombstone with a ringed cross on one side between two seated figures and with two pairs of animals decorating the back.

[28] The sides of the monument are decorated with carved rooftiles and the ridge of the recumbent stone is sculpted with a fishtailed beast.

[34] Meigle 27 is a piece from a cross slab and depicts a figure sitting in a chair, with his servant sat on the floor behind him.