Angus sandstone and the talent of a local artisan have recreated one of Skye’s important ancient monuments.
The Fiskavaig Pictish stone was found after a storm in 1927 by brothers Murdo and Donald MacLeod.
It was spotted several years earlier, before being covered by the shingle on the Loch Bracadale bay.
And it is one of only a few Skye Pictish monuments.
The early medieval stone is in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.
But a replica now stands proudly on the west of the island.
Denfind stone used for Skye monument
Monikie-based stone-carver David McGovern painstakingly recreated the ancient design design.
The new stone, weighing just over 700kg, was carved from a block of sandstone from Denfind Stone’s Pitairlie Quarry at Monikie.
In 2023 David selected the block of stone for its similarity in shape to the original.
The replica 8th century monument is now installed at Minginish Community Hall at Portnalong.
David was commissioned by the local community to carve the replica. It sits alongside the 16th century cross-shaft from St Maelrubha’s chapel at the site.
The face of the new stone carries two Pictish symbols – a crescent and v-rod and a double disk and z-rod- pecked into the surface.
Angus stone matched shape of medieval monument
“The meaning of the symbols is unknown but this is one of only three Pictish monuments found on Skye,” said David.
“The original stone is Skye schist, which no-one quarries.
“So I chose a piece of Angus sandstone which matched the shape and face of the original stone.
“The irony is that it only had to travel a few hundred metres from quarry to workshop and I then had to take it all the way to Skye!
“The new stone helps tell the story of early medieval Skye but it also shows the versatility of Angus sandstone.
“I can’t wait to visit it after a few years when it has weathered in.”
The Skye piece is David’s latest Pictish recreation.
He crafted the first new-design Pictish stone in Angus in more than a millennium.
It was commissioned as part of the Arbroath 2020 celebration around the 700th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath.
Other pieces include a St Vigeans tribute to local environmental campaigner Ralph Coutts.
And in 2022 an Arbroath church unveiled the plinth it commissioned for a statue of the town’s patron saint, St Thomas.
Conversation