N E W S F E E D S >>>

Caithness Field Club Bulletin
THE SCULPTURED STONES OF CAITHNESS
A survey by Tim Blackie and Colin Macaulay

Reference Number: SSC3

Name: Birkle Hills

Description: Class 1 Symbol Stone

Present location: NMA, Edinburgh

Original location: Birkle Hills,

ND 3395 5830

Other Documentation: BEAT p7
  ECMS iii pp27-28
  IMCC No 577  
  PSAS xxix P272
Dimensions: Length 3 feet 2 inches,
  Breadth 1 foot 9 inches,
  Width 3 inches
   

Notes: Found in the remains of a dry-built rectangular building during the excavation of a sandy hillock on Keiss Links by the late Sir Francis Tress Barry during the 1860s, this stone was apparently re-used as a paving-slab. There are two incised symbols; the locally prominent 'triple oval', and a second which has not been confidently identified. The stone had been broken through the middle and a triangular area in the incised face had fragmented into many small pieces. It was taken to Edinburgh to be repaired and bedded in cement, where it still remains, albeit not at present on public display.