What is recorded here

No wonder the church wall on High Island has a shallow recess near its east face. A garnet slab once stood there, carving a cross and roundel on both sides before people moved it into the graveyard. It may have marked a real burial, a pretended one, or simply a place where memory needed a shape. The stone still belongs to the island, but human hands have already rearranged its meaning once.

In the SE end of the graveyard (GA021-026026-) on High Island. Recorded by Fisher (2014, 201, no. 2, Fig. 7.1), this is one of three decorated garnet mica-schist cross-slabs (see also GA021-026034- and GA021-026035-) associated with a pseudo grave, Grave 2. It was probably reused. Cruciform in shape with short side-arms (H 0.79m; Wth 0.28m; T 0.03m), it was found in situ in a recess in the external face of the E wall of the church (GA021-026014-). It formed the headstone of the grave and was decorated on both faces. The decoration on the E face consists of a central roundel within which are traces of an equal-armed cross with a combination of straight and slightly forked terminals. A linked pair of bosses is evident in the top left quadrant, the right quadrant is damaged. The decoration on this face is similar to that on the E face of the cross-slab (GA021-026032-) on Grave 1. On the concealed W face of this slab there is a linear cross with forked terminals on the cross-head. (White Marshall and Rourke 2000, 148, no. 14) Compiled by: Olive Alcock Date of upload: 18 November 2015

Date likely to the 9th–11th centuries AD, based on the style of the cross-slab and the use of garnet mica-schist, a material common in early medieval Scotland. These slabs may have marked Christian burials or served as memorials, reflecting the spread of Christianity in the region.

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