Skeith Stone

On our travels through Fife, I noticed a large stone in the middle of a field, with a track leading to up to it. This definitely warranted further investigation.

The Skeith Stone is a Pictish sandstone boulder, dating back to around the 7th century. It sits in a field around 400m south west of the village of Kilrenny. The stone is just over a meter tall and is carved with a double circle inside which is the Christian Rho Hook symbol attached to a cross of arcs. The Chi Rho symbol superimposes the Greek letters chi 'X' and rho 'P' and is linked to other Pictish carvings.

The name Kilrenny is derived from the words 'cill' for church, and 'renny' thought to be a derivative of Ethernan.

It is thought that the stone could have been a way marker used by the St Ethernan monks as it is located on an ancient track and is not thought to be a burial site, as there was no evidence found in the ground below.

St Ethernan has been associated with Kilrenny, Madderty, Aberdeenshire and the Isle of May, which is where he was believed to be buried in around 669AD. St Ethernan was born to Scottish Nobels and received a high class education. Following his education he was consecrated by the Bishop of Ireland and it was at this point he embarked on spreading the Christian word in Buchnan, Aberdeenshire and Fife.

For a quick visit to the stone, we parked next to the stone wall stile and walked past the side of the house. This joins the clear track that leads to the clearly visible Skeith Stone.

The carving can now be found on the south face of the stone, although the stone has been moved and is no longer in it's original orientation.

If you continue west along the A917, you could also pay the Caiplie Doocot a visit.