Eassie Sculptured Stone

In a corner of the roofless old church of Eassie, down a short lane off the A94 west of Glamis, a glass shelter protects one of the earliest Pictish cross-slabs, carved in the late 600s and among the first clear signs of Christianity in this part of Scotland. About two metres tall, its front bears an ornate interlaced cross flanked by two figures, one an angel. Below is an unusual hunting scene: most Pictish hunts show riders, but here a hunter on foot carries a spear and a small square shield, with a stag, a deer and a hound, the stag's muscles picked out in scrolls that are still clear despite weathering. The back carries two Pictish symbols, figures, animals and a tree, perhaps a biblical scene. The slab was found in the stream below the churchyard wall, and Eassie was very likely an early Pictish church site. Reviewers say it is a ten-minute visit and the glass can make the finer carving hard to see.