The Newton Stone contains two inscriptions. The first is an Ogham script possibly containing personal names, while the second has never been identified and became known from the early 19th century as the "unknown script". The Ogham script is engraved down the left-hand side of the stone and runs across part of its face. There are two rows of Ogham, a long and a short row. Across the top third of the stone, roughly central, is the unidentified script which contains 6 lines comprising 48 characters and symbols, including a swastika.

The second script may have been added to the stone as recent as the late 18th or beginning of the 19th century.]]> 'AN EXPERIMENT OF THE ODD NUMBERED METHOD FOR MARKING A CONTINUOUS LINE, THIS HAS MADE TWO LINES.']]>
The stone was discovered at Hilton of Cadboll, on the East coast of the Tarbat Peninsula in Easter Ross, Scotland. Class II Pictish stone.

On the seaward-facing side is a Christian cross, and on the landward facing side are secular depictions. The latter are carved below the Pictish symbols of crescent and v-rod and double disc and Z-rod: a hunting scene including a woman wearing a large penannular brooch riding side-saddle. Like other similar stones, it can be dated to about 800 AD.]]>
The stone was originally located at the gateway to the grounds of the parish church of Nigg, Easter Ross. It is one of the finest surviving Pictish carved stones, and one of the most elaborate carved stones surviving from early medieval Europe. It is now displayed, restored to its original proportions, in a room inside the parish church (open in summer; key kept locally). It bears an elaborately decorated cross in high relief on the 'front' and a figural scene on the reverse. This scene is extremely complicated and made more difficult to interpret by deliberate defacement. Among the depictions are two Pictish symbols: an eagle above a Pictish Beast, a sheep, the oldest evidence of a European triangular harp, and hunting scenes. Scholars interpret the scene as representing a story of the biblical King David. The carvings on the cross side show close similarities to the contemporary high crosses of Iona. These works may indeed have been created by the same 'school' of carvers, working for different patrons. The stone was shattered in the 18th century. The upper and lower parts were crudely joined together using metal staples (now removed), and the shattered intervening part was discarded. Part of the missing fragment was recovered in 1998 by Niall M Robertson, in the stream which runs below the mound on which the churchyard is set, having probably been thrown down the bank at the time the slab was 'repaired'. This small fragment shows most of the 'Pictish beast' symbol, and was preserved in Tain Museum, until being reattached during a restoration in 2013.]]>
Details of panel on the right side of the cross-shaft of the Nigg Stone.]]> Book of Kells.
Nigg Stone.]]> The panel contains 4 men and 8 birds.
The necessary layout with compasses for the lower right circle of the page of the Eight Circled Cross of the Book of Kells.]]> The necessary layout required by the scribe before interlacing in two lines.
Details from the lower right circle of the Eight Circled Cross page of the Book of Kells.
The actual diameter is about 1 and a quarter inches.
The interlacing knotwork border is about three quarter inch long.
]]> Perthshire.
Nigg Stone.
Book of Kells.
Margam Abbey, Wales.
Nevern, Wales.
Golden Grove, Carmarthenshire, Wales.]]> ]]> The probable layout of the circles used by the scribe.
The Book of Kells equivalent of "And the Lion shall lie down with the lamb."]]> Plant forms are rare in The Book of Kells and always potted.
The scribes work is probably the Final Application of the Three-Dimensional skill of Jewellers, Enamelers and Sculptors.
The only thing unconnected with the man, beast or bird is the WHITE CIRCLE in the middle of the TRIANGLE made by the two forearms of the man and the top-knot of the BEAST.

C1 Page of Opening Words of St John's Gospel.
Sir Edward Sullivan writes in the STUDIO Publication "Book of Kells" : " It is possible that the combination of the C and 1 is intended to suggest A HARPER PLAYING A HARP. Perhaps the fingers of the player. Which seems to suggest the harp strings may have suggested the idea".

The contents are A MAN with head, forelock, badlock, beard, two arms, two fingers, two legs, two feet. A BEAST with topknot, neck, foreleg and foot, two toes, hindleg, foot with two toes. A BIRD with topknot, neck, body, wing, leg, four toes, three tail feathers. REPTILE with head, snout, two top knots, body.

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