Scotland Guide
Northeast Scotland
Meigle
The tiny settlement of MEIGLE is home to Scotland's most important collection of early Christian and Pictish inscribed stones. Housed in a modest former schoolhouse, the Meigle Museum (April– Sept daily 9.30am–6.30pm; £2.20; 
www.historic-scotland.gov.uk ) displays some thirty pieces dating from the seventh to the tenth centuries, all found in and around the nearby churchyard. The majority are either gravestones that would have lain flat, or cross slabs inscribed with the sign of the cross, usually standing. Most impressive is the seven-foot-tall great cross slab, said to be the gravestone of Guinevere, wife of King Arthur. The exact meaning and purpose of the stones and their enigmatic symbols is obscure, as is the reason why so many of them were found at Meigle. The most likely theory suggests that Meigle was once an important ecclesiastical centre that attracted secular burials of prominent Picts.