Discovered in 1894 - a farmer ploughing his fields at Easterton farm, unearthed the top of a burial cist. The pictish stone formed the West side of the irregularly shaped cist.

It seems the stone had been re-used, as both sides, including the outermost side, exposed to the soil, are inscribed with pictish designs.

Outer aspect of stone, A large Crescent with notch (A bridge, or 'rainbow-arch' to some), above a crescent and v-rod, and mirror and comb.

Reverse side - A goose, with neck arched back over body, above a salmon.

The goose is a rare form of a pictish design, likely 5-6th Century in its construction.

Nearby can be found the Sculptor's Cave and Burghead's Pictish Fort. Numerous Cists and burial cairns are found locally, at Inverugie and the hill of Tappoch.]]>


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The bull likewise symbolizes ties to the land, ancestry, and kinship. A good bull was a sign of wealth in a culture that revolved around farming, the prestige of a clan’s bull was closely linked to that of its king, and to the prosperity of its people.

Although Pictish symbols usually appear in pairs, a few have only been found on their own. These include the Bull and the Bear.]]>

The crescent is thought to symbolise the moon/sun and also thought to symbolise death.


The V-rod is thought to be a bent or broken arrow.]]>
The book's current dimensions are 330 by 250 mm. Originally, the folios were of no standard size, but they were cropped to the current size during a 19th-century rebinding. The text area is approximately 250 by 170 mm. Each text page has 16 to 18 lines of text. The manuscript is in remarkably good condition considering its great age, though many pages have suffered some damage to the delicate artwork due to rubbing. The book must have been the product of a major scriptorium over several years, yet was apparently never finished, the projected decoration of some of the pages appearing only in outline. It is believed that some 30 folios of the original manuscript have been lost over the centuries. Ussher counted 344 folios in 1621, but several leaves had already been lost by then. The overall estimate is based on gaps in the text and the absence of certain key illustrations.
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