Scottish Pictish Symbol Stone Cross-Slab

Scottish Pictish Symbol Stone Cross-Slab. A symbol-bearing cross slab was found around 1865, acting as the cover of bridge over the Kettins Burn. It was removed and erected in Kettins churchyard close to the North wall. It is placed in a stone socket and measures approximately ten feet high, three and half feet wide, and ten inches thick. Now much worn, the slab still retains some sculptures of humans and animals. This massive sandstone sla was formerly used as a footbridge over the Kettins Burn; it now stands very close to the North West wall of the burial-ground of Kettins parish church, set in a modern base and further supported by metal clamps. Worn decoration survives on one face: the cross has been almost completely defaced, but three areas of ornament on the shaft can still be detected, comprising a band of interlace and square panels of key-pattern and interlace. What may be the tail of a Pictish beast is visible to the left side of the top of the cross, and there are four panels of worn ornament on the right side. These comprise: a beast with curled tail; a winged beast; a figure between two animal-headed mon sters; a pair of facing beasts biting each other's tails.