October 20, 2011
Funds secured for Easter Ross’s Pictish Nigg cross-slab Comments Off
A small voluntary group has secured enough money to conserve and redesign the displaying of an intricately carved Pictish stone in Easter Ross.
The Nigg cross-slab dates from the 8th Century AD and features snakes and a depiction of monks receiving bread from a raven sent by God.
Nigg Old Trust has received a funding package of £178,000. The Heritage Lottery Fund, Scottish government and European Community Highland Leader fund contributed.
The stone is displayed at Nigg Old Church.
Liz Budge, of Nigg Old Trust, said the financial package was crucial to the conservation of the stone.
She said: “We are a small group of local volunteers and, without support from organisations such as Heritage Lottery Fund and the Highland Leader Programme, would be unable to carry out this project.
The stone’s entry in the Highland Historic Environment database described it as being intricately carved.
The entry said: “The style echoes that of the the sculptured crosses on Iona, the Book of Kells, and illustrated manuscripts of Lindisfarne in Northumbria and Durrow in Ireland.”
• Full story at BBC Scotland.
