Archaeology Notes
NH64SE 4 6729 4492
(NH 6727 4491) "The original town of Inverness no doubt clustered round the walls of the stronghold on the Crown (NH 671 453) and evidence of the fact came to light within comparatively recent years with the digging up there of the Broadstone, which formed the socket of the old cross".
G Eyre-Todd 1923.
Broadstone Park takes its name from a broad circular stone, with a hole in the centre of it, which now lies under the pavement or footpath on the East side of Kingsmills Road, in front of the large tenement house opposite the Football Field.
T Wallace 1917.
NH 6729 4492 The Broadstone is now located in a small enclosure on the north side of Kingsmills Road at Broadstone Park. It is a large flat irregular shaped stone 3.5m. long x 2.0m broad, protruding 0.1m. above ground level. In the centre is an elongated socket 1.2m x 0.2m. A notice board states - "Uncovered 18.8.26, lost for 100 years; base of cross marking Burgh Boundary"
Visited by OS (W D J) 30 March 1960.
or
Early Christian Sculptured Stone in Highland
Presently on Kingsmill Road in Inverness, fenced off. Adding what is on the plaque to what CANMORE says we have 3 typings: it lay at the centre of the stronghold, it then became a burgh boundary stone , finally the stone became a marker for the nearby St. Mary's Well before moving to its present spot. But are all three the same stone? For though generally called irregular of shape, which it clearly is, there is a 1917 report referring to it as a broad circular stone which is stretching it a bit, and the burgh boundary stone was lost and buried for over a century before being found. The slot would appear to mark this down as a cross-slab robbed of its cross. But dare I suggest the excising of a pagan symbol that would have made it e.g. a chief's inaugural stone.
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