FOGS - Clatt dolphin

Clatt dolphin - Class I incised dolphin from Clatt, near Rhynie, Aberdeenshire

The Class I incised design of a dolphin (in 19th century terminology of
Victorian antiquarians, called a 'swimming elephant' or 'Pictish beast')
was discovered in the foundations of the pre-Reformation chapel at
Clatt, near Rhynie in Aberdeenshire. Along with another broken stone,
it lay in Clatt churchyard for almost a century before being built into
the churchyard dyke (wall) in 1890. The second fragment of a double
disc & Z-rod is now lost. A third carved stone, also from Clatt
kirkyard, now stands at the House of Knockespock nearby.

Knock-espoch means hill of the bishop - an indication of early ecclesiastic activity in a community associated

with the Pictish (and later Celtic) church. Bishops were consecrated as early as AD700 in Pictland. The little

creature now stands on his head within the bottom course of building material on the outer (car park) side of

the churchyard.

Compare this early realism of a pre-Christian motif with the 9th century rendition of a rather stilted dolphin on

the 'pagan' side of the Maiden stone.

On the Gartnach hill outside the village of Clatt, an earlier pre-Christian sacred well was used until the

Reformation as a place of blessing and called the 'Holy' or 'salmon' well. The carved outline of a Pictish salmon

along with an overhead arch [or horseshoe or rainbow] was embedded next to the well until the early years of

the 20th century. It was moved to Percylieu (between Clatt & Druminnor) and trimmed for use as a door lintel

to the threshing mill. It was then rescued and has become a feature of the National Trust property of Leith Hall

near Kennethmont, where it stands in a garden shelter beside another Pictish stone, the 'Tod' (wolf) stone from

Newbiggin in Leslie parish near Insch. Click for Pictish iconography.

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