Rosemarkie was the site of an early Christian centre in the 8th and 9th centuries AD. Today, you can examine the surviving fragments of Pictish sculpture gathered together in our museum display. The centrepiece of the permanent exhibition is a magnificent Class 2 cross-slab, covered with elaborate and intricate designs reminiscent of Pictish metalwork. These include two crosses as well as three crescent and V-rod symbols, one double-disc and Z-rod, a comb, mirror, and mirror-case.

]]> A Class 3 cross-slab, now leaning, in the churchyard of the former parish church. On the west face is a Celtic cross, with a broad circle around the intersection; on the east face a Latin cross (upright, with the lower limb longest) and a horseman in relief, with two lower horsemen now concealed beneath the ground. No Pictish symbols are visible. The trees and shrubs in the church grounds illustrate the Gaelic Tree Alphabet. The first letters of their Gaelic names spell Eadar Dun, the old name for Edderton.
Fragments of Pictish stones found in the churchyard are now in Tain Museum.]]> A Class 3 cross-slab, now leaning, in the churchyard of the former parish church. On the west face is a Celtic cross, with a broad circle around the intersection; on the east face a Latin cross (upright, with the lower limb longest) and a horseman in relief, with two lower horsemen now concealed beneath the ground. No Pictish symbols are visible. The trees and shrubs in the church grounds illustrate the Gaelic Tree Alphabet. The first letters of their Gaelic names spell Eadar Dun, the old name for Edderton. Fragments of Pictish stones found in the churchyard are now in Tain Museum.]]>
This impressive Class 2 cross-slab was a landmark for local boats. It is now protected by a glass shelter. Facing the sea, its great cross is covered with bosses and interlocking spirals. On the back are five panels of decoration. At the top is a double-disc symbol above a Pictish beast, while another shows a hunting scene, fighting swordsmen and a hunter with a cross-bow. The complex patterns of serpents biting their own bodies have parallels in 8th-century metalwork from Britain, Ireland, and continental Europe. Its Gaelic name (Clach a’ Charaidh) means ‘stone of the grave-plots’. A burial ground here was recorded in 1889 as last used during the cholera epidemic of 1832 and ploughed under about 1885.]]> A replica, by Barry Grove, stands on the site at Hilton of Cadboll Chapel.
The Hilton of Cadboll cross-slab (Class 2) once stood outside St Mary’s chapel at Cadboll, the remains of which can still be seen as grass covered mounds. In 1676 the face bearing the cross was defaced and an inscription cut to commemorate Alexander Duff and his three wives. In the 19th century the stone was removed to Invergordon castle, and in 1921 it was presented to the British Museum in London. However the following year it was returned to Scotland and it is now in the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. In 2000, a new stone was set up at the chapel site, which was carved to reproduce as closely as possible the design of the surviving face of the original.]]> Housed in the refurbished interior of Tarbat Old Parish Church, the Centre displays fragments of Pictish sculpture revealed by ongoing excavations at the site. They include cattle licking their new-born calf, a rooting wild boar, and a snarling dragon with a serpent head on its tail. There are also replicas and photographs of the pieces of Pictish sculpture from Tarbat which are now in the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. The excavations by the University of York have revealed an 8th-century Pictish monastery, its stone buildings, farm, and metalworking shop. The Centre has interactive touchscreens with information on the Picts, and shows a video on the Picts of Easter Ross. When the dig is in progress, tours guided by archaeologists are included in the admission charge to the Centre.]]> It is said that the Picts got their name from the Romans, who called them Picti, which is Latin for ‘painted people’. This is thought to refer to the tales of the Picts painting and tattooing their bodies.

]]> Pictish buildings would appear to have varied depending on regional location and building material available.

Evidence of Pictish housing finds them to be of a reasonable size, round or oval shaped with no windows and a central hearth. Access to these buildings would be through a low and narrow doorway.

]]> David MacRitchie, a Scottish folklorist (1851-1925), argued that fairies were based on a real diminutive or pygmy-statured population that lived in Scotland during the late Stone Age:

"Postulations based on the premise that fairies constitute a folk memory of former races, conquered peoples who were pushed out beyond the periphery of settled areas, have fuelled the imagination of many scholars on this subject. Of particular significance was a theory advanced by David MacRitchie that fairies were an actual race of small or 'little' people, the original Pictish peoples of Scotland."

]]> The Picts spoke a Brittonic language, similar to Welsh or Cornish.

In the first millennium BC, the common root of the native languages spoken across the British Isles was Celtic. But these languages evolved with time. In Ireland and the far west of Scotland, Celtic developed into Gaelic. Linguists refer to the various strands of this language as Q-Celtic. In other regions, P-Celtic (or Brittonic) languages developed, including Pictish.

Pictish gradually died out during the 10th and 11th centuries, and Gaelic became the everyday language of former Pictish regions.

]]> Archaeological excavations have shown that Pictish settlements contained sheep, cattle and pigs. They also grew crops such as barley and oats. Depictions in the stone carvings show scenes of hunting wild animals and fishing.

]]> The original location of the Rosemarkie Stone was most likely within a Pictish settlement or monastery, it later was used as a floor slab in Rosemarkie Church and also stood in the Churchyard, before being moved and preserved within Groam House Museum.

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