Dogton Stone
Reminders of the Picts
The Picts were the descendants of Iron-Age tribes who occupied the area north of the Forth and Clyde estuaries in the first millennium AD. We don’t know a lot about them. They left about 300 carved stones, mainly in the north-east of Scotland. The earliest of these stones, such as the Brandsbutt Stone, date to about AD 600 and display a variety of mysterious symbols.
The Dogton Stone was probably erected in the AD 800s. It belongs to a later group of Pictish stones, which were more overtly Christian. It’s one of a handful of free-standing cross stones erected by the Picts, most of which only survive as fragments.
Statement of Significance
You can find out more about Dogton Stone in our Statement of Significance, part of a series of special documents outlining the history and development of Historic Scotland sites.
A mysterious message
Only the base and the lower part of the cross-shaft remain of the Dogton Stone. Although it's very weathered, we can make out mostly abstract ornamentation carved into its surface, along with the image of an armed horseman above two beasts.
The stone's base has survived, which suggests it still stands on its original spot, but we don't know why it was erected here. It could:
mark the boundary of a religious site
overlook an important site, as the Dupplin and Invermay stones may have done
mark the site of a former road
Discover more on trove.scot
See archive photographs of Dogton Stone, plus archaeology notes and more on trove.scot.
