Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Stone commemorating Brechin’s Pictish history vandalised after two days

brechin stone vandalised
Dean's sculpture had been in place for just two days before it was damaged.

A Brechin stone carver spent months creating a stone commemorating the area’s Pictish heritage, only for it to be vandalised two days later.

Dean Gowans, 32, had spent months carving the sculpture as the final project of his apprenticeship with Monikie Rock Art.

The stone was commissioned as part of the Brechin Community Led Tourism project to create monuments that celebrate the area’s history.

The Centaur Stone was laid in the Brechin Den on Friday morning – and by the end of the weekend it had been chipped and cracked.

brechin stone
Dean and daughter Luna with the Centaur Stone.

The Angus stone carver was shocked to discover the vandalism to the stone, which weighs approximately 500kg and is 1.2 metres tall and 60cm wide.

Dean said: “It had only been there two days. Everyone is a bit shocked.

“It was my first big solo project. We don’t use any machine tools for making the stone, it’s all done manually.

“I think it’s been hit with a hammer. You can see very clearly where it’s hit the stone and taken it off.

“A large amount of force would be needed to hit it. It’s not even really been publicised that it’s there.”

‘Really quite grim’

David McGovern, of Monikie Rock Art, was commissioned as part of the community project to create three Pictish stones.

He said: “I thought it would be good opportunity for Dean to design and carve something himself.

brechin stone damaged vandalised
Dean spent months designing and carving the stone by hand.

“He carved it as his final apprenticeship piece so it’s quite a big deal for him.

“So for it to be vandalised after a couple days is really quite grim.

“We’re gonna have a shot at repairing it or we might have to re-shape it.

“It’s extra work we didn’t really ned to do, so it’s costing me time and money.

“It’s just so pointless.”

Who were the Picts?

The Picts were first mentioned in history during the Roman campaign of Emperor Severus in 210 AD.

Little about their time is clear, other than they lived in Scotland in the first millennium AD and their territory was taken over by the Scots in the 9th Century.

What has survived is their carved symbol stones, many of which are located in Angus.

The Brechin Community Led Tourism project is managed by the Angus Tourism Cooperative.

Norma Lyall from the cooperative said: “We’re creating a heritage trail with Pictish-style stones and many other projects within the town to encourage visitors to come to Brechin and the wider Angus area.

brechin stone
The stone was Dean’s final apprenticeship piece with Monikie Rock Art.

“We’d like to encourage people to come down into the Den and see all of the great work done by locals.

“There has been funding put in place, these stone carvers are really talented and the stone will be repaired.

“The stone is not going to be removed and it’s there to stay.”

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We are currently investigating an incident in the cemetery in South Esk Street, Brechin. Sometime between 9pm on Friday, May 27 and 9am Monday, May 30, a stone sculpture was damaged.

“The sculpture is in the form of a pictish stone made of red sandstone. A large chunk of it has been broken off, likely having been struck by a hammer or something similar, causing hundreds of pounds worth of damage.

“If you have any information that could assist us, please call 101 or speak to any police officer. Also, information can be given anonymously through CrimeStoppers on 0800 555 111. Our reference is incident 0872 of May 30.”

Conversation