FOGS - Inverurie & Brandsbutt stones

FOGS at Inverurie, Aberdeenshire

with images of the Pictish Class I stones in the old churchyard of 'the Castle Yards' near the Bass, and at

the Brandsbutt Pictish stone to the north of the burgh

At the turn of the 20th Century, the pre-Reformation chapel near the sacred mound of the Bass in

Inverurie's old district was torn down as other churches were being built in the newer streets of the

market burgh. Discovered among the foundation stones were pre-Christian Pictish carved stones

featuring symbols representing to the Picts sacred spirits in their pantheon of geometric and animal

deities: fragments of four Class I carved stones with incised symbols have survived, including the

famed Inverurie Horse. Other simple round cross-incised 'pillow' stones discovered at the same

time, have not.


		Inverurie Kirkyard quadruple symbol stone shows, from top, crescent & V-rod, sundisc, serpent and double-disc & Z-rod. The appearance of four contiguous symbols on one surface of Class I Pictish art is unusual.


The serpent appears on the Brandsbutt Class I Pictish stone at the north end of the medieval burgh of Inverurie, adjacent to a ruined Neolithic stone circle.


		Featuring also on the Brandsbutt stone is an ogham script reading (upwards) 'IRATTADDOARENS' which may indicate the time of the Pictish king in whose reign the script was inscribed. Ogham is thought to have been used in Pictland up to four centuries after it was created in Ireland as a means of writing within the early Church (AD3rd-4thCC). ©1999 Marian Youngblood

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