Picardy Symbol Stone

PricingFreeFree for all visitors

Free entry for everyone

Entry

Free for everyone

Pricing details

Free entry for everyone; no membership card is needed.

ParkingNo car park

Arrive on foot, by bike or by public transport.

Parking details

Historic Scotland names no parking and there is no car park. Reviewers park on the side of the narrow minor road next to the stile into the field; leave room for farm traffic.

Driving pin: the stone itself, a few metres into a field beside the lane. From the A96 8 miles south of Huntly, take the road to Raes of Inch (the second road on the left, as Historic Scotland directs). Historic Scotland gives journey planners only.

About

In a farm field south of Huntly, near Insch, stands a 2 m Pictish symbol stone of about AD 600, one of only a few Pictish stones still in their original position. Its south face is carved, from the top, with a double disc and Z-rod, a tightly coiled serpent with another Z-rod, and a simple mirror. What the symbols meant is unknown, but excavation in 1856 found that the stone stood on a small circular cairn with a grave close by, so it may have marked a burial; nothing of the cairn or grave survives. From the stone there is a fine view of the hill fort on Dunnideer, perhaps the stronghold of a Pictish chief. The stone stands in a small railed enclosure with an information board, its carvings facing away from the road. It is reached over a stone stile, so there is no level access. Park with care on the narrow lane and mind the electric fence and any livestock.

Check today’s timesSee all times

Picardy Symbol StoneOpen all year; an unstaffed open site, no hours published

Opening times may change at short notice.

Historic Scotland: 'The Picardy Symbol Stone is free to visit and open year-round.' No hours, closures or notices on 21 October 2026.

The stone stands in its original position in a farm field, inside a small railed enclosure with an information board. It is reached over a stone stile from the lane, with no level access; reviewers warn of an electric fence and livestock in the field. The carvings are on the side facing away from the road. No toilets or other facilities.

Photo: The Picardy Stone, a tall grey slab carved with a double disc and a coiled serpent, inside its railed enclosure with an information board in a grassy field under beech trees. Bill Harrison, CC BY-SA 2.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Picardy_Stone_-_geograph.org.uk_-_5431456.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.