Crafting a Celtic Cross

Bounded by the impossibly blue waters of the Moray Firth and the Dornoch Firth, there are thousands of years of history in every step on the Easter Ross Peninsula. At the historic heart of the peninsula are its incredible Pictish stones - most notably at Shandwick, Nigg and Hilton of Cadboll. The Picts, (Latin: ‘painted people’), were a group of people who largely lived in what is now north and eastern Scotland from around 300 to 900 AD. They are perhaps best known for their distinctive and skilled art including metalwork masterpieces and skilfully carved stones, imbued with symbols whose meanings are lost to time.

While we know relatively little about the Picts compared to other societies living in the UK at this time, what we do know is that the Picts lived at a time of great change. The historic arrival of Christianity would transform the social and political landscape and shape Scotland as we know it today. As the geographical heart of the Northern Pictland, this transformation would see the Easter Ross Peninsula become a centre for Christian activity for centuries to come. From the foundation of the late 6th century monastery at Portmahomack to the life and legacy of St Duthac in the 11th century and to the secular change sparked at the 'Lamp of the North' Fearn Abbey, the peninsula is truly an embodiment of a multi-period sacred landscape.

The long cross that you see stitched here is a tribute to the peninsula's phenomenal historic journey. Its design and embroidered elements echo those expertly carved into Celtic crosses by local Early Medieval communities. Its surrounding journey stones emulate this theme featuring more iconography of beloved places from across the area.