Class II relief carved pink granite Pictish Symbol Stone, 3 metres 20 cm x 86 cm x 25cm. The symbols being the notched rectangle and Z rod and the Pictish Beast (A.K.A. elephant, dolphin) with a mirror and comb qualifier. East face has 4 panels. The top one has various beasts and a Pict headed centaur, The second panel the notched rectangle and Z rod, the third the Pictish Beast and the bottom panel the mirror and comb.
The west cross face is very worn it shows a man with arms outstretched between two kelpie type monsters above a ring cross which in turn is above a disc the inner part of which is decorated with an intricate design of spirals (similar to designs in The Book of Kells) with a border of knotwork. The narrow sides are also decorated with intricate interwoven patterns.
I include 2 photographs of rubbings on cotton that are in Chapel of Garioch Parish Church, done by the artist Marianna Lines some decades ago and now rather faded themselves (taking rubbings of actual Pictish monuments is against present regulations).
Related Information:
The name 'Maiden Stone' is said to come from the legend of a daughter of a Laird of Balquhain who was turned to stone on her wedding day after losing a bet with a warlock or the devil, disguised as a handsome young man about being able to bake bread before he could return from building a road to the top of the nearby hill of Bennachie. This is a migratory legend with versions told about more than one standing stone.
