Reference has already been made to the licker-stones, and as they do not come under any of the three categories about to be indicated, we will at this point treat of them. Although only a few stones now remain, there seems no reason to doubt that there were originally here what Dr Stuart calls stone pillars, probably to indicate an ancient cemetery: whether they bore inscriptions or symbolism or oghams it is impossible now to say. The same learned authority traces the gradual progress from these rude pillars of pagan times to the inscribed but unhewn pillar which records the name of the person to whose memory it was erected. These licker-stones in Abernethy are situated between the parish church and the property of Innernethy, and within a quarter of a mile from the church. Dr Laing says: There were also at a little distance from Abdie church two upright stones, known as the Lickerstanes, whose origin and use are both alike lost in antiquity. They consisted of unhewn boulders about 3 feet high, somewhat square on the sides and flat on the top. They were removed about the beginning of the present century, and it is said were applied to some utilitarian purpose in effecting some repairs on the out-buildings of the manse. Stones bearing the same name are found in other places in Scotland, and invariably on the side of the road leading from the outskirts of the parish to the churchyard. . . . In a record of the marches of the lands of Kirkness, as bestowed on the Culdees of Lochleven by Macbeth and his Queen Gruoch, preserved in the Register of the Priory of St Andrews (p. 1), entered certainly not later than the middle of the fourteenth century, "a heap of stones called in the vulgar tongue lykyrstyne" is specially mentioned as one of the points of the march or boundary. . . Tradition, however, is uniform that the corpse carried to burial was laid on them, and that the priest there met the funeral procession and began the service for the burial of the dead. From this traditionally assumed reading of the service, it has been conjectured by some that the name is derived from the Latin word lector, signifying a reader; but the oldest orthography, coupled with the fact that it is expressly said to be known in the vulgar tongue as the Lykyrstane, goes to prove that the name is derived from the old English or Saxon word lic or lych, a corpse, hence Lychstane, and that these stones were connected with the burial of the dead.1 1 Lindores Abbey and its Burgh of Newburgh, pp. 66, 67. These stones belong to a very early and probably a pagan period, and were evidently erected for sepulchral and cenotaphic purposes: honour to the dead and propitiation or invocation of the spirits of departed heroes were the leading ideas that led to their erection. They may also have been surrounded by a circle of smaller erect stones, and would keep fresh in memory the deeds of heroism done by those who had fallen in battle, and thus serve as histories, in the days when records were unknown. At a later time they may have been associated with other purposes, but such seem to have been their primary objects.1 The monuments found in the north-east area of Scotland arrange themselves in a progressive scale : (a) The earliest are those on which the symbols are found alone, and may be characterised as those of the incised symboltype. (b) Those that have the symbol associated with the cross. (c) Those that belong to the period after the twelfth century and have the cross alone. With these general observations upon Celtic art, and with the above order in its general development, we are able to understand the setting in which the Abernethy stones must be placed, and the most likely order of their appearance. In treating of them, we cannot but express the regret that so many of them are fragmentary, and the hope that many others may yet be discovered. I. There are three stones on which the symbols are found alone and apart from any representation of the cross, and which thus belong to the first of the orders just indicated. (a) One of these is an irregular oblong stone with incised symbolism on the obverse side of it (sculptured stone, Plate I.) It is now placed in the wall at the entrance to Mornington, on the Church Wynd. It is 234 feet long by 2 feet broad, and was dug out of the foundation of a house on the same spot where it now 1 Cf. 'Rude Stone Monuments,' by J. Fergusson, D.C.L., &c. is, about thirty years ago. It was thus found on a spot near the present parish church, and which tradition, well-founded evidently, identifies as the place where the Columban monastery originally was. The top part is broken off, but what remains exhibits an excised representation of the crescent and a V-shaped rod with floriated ends. There is also a representation of an anvil, a hammer, and part of what appears to be pincers with ornamentation. Reference has already been made to this in a former chapter (p. 67). (b) The other is a fragment found in one of the houses on the Station Road, and now in the National Museum at Edinburgh. It is 14 inches in length, 8 inches in breadth, and 3 inches in thickness. The fragment contains the representation of the legs of a horse with an ogham inscription-both excised (sculptured stone, Plate II.) Professor Rhys of Oxford thus refers to it : I am delighted to learn that it has been presented to the National Museum by David Laing, LL.D., F.S.A. Scot. For my information about it I am indebted to my friend Mr Allen, from whom I learn that the piece of stone shows, besides the Ogam scores, certain portions of the legs of a horse, so it was probably ornamented with a hunting scene; but I must confess that I do not quite understand the relative position of the sculpture and the Ogam. The writing consists of the three letters, which would be either i, m, n, or q, m, i, according to the direction of the reading, which is hard to tell. The Ogams are, however, instructive, as the two longer ones consist of tied scores or bind Ogams, such as we shall presently find in the Islands, a circumstance which establishes the practical oneness of the entire series from Fife to the Shetlands.1 Sir Samuel Ferguson avers that the oghamic monuments of Scotland differ from those of Ireland, Wales, and England; that in the Scottish class the scholastic variety prevails, and digits constitute vowels as well as consonants; that in the latter classes there is both digit and notch.2 1 Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries in Scotland, 1891-92, p. 268. |