ST MARTINS STONE
As depicted at the excellent Pictavia Visitor Centre in Brechin, the mysterious Picts were farmers, craftspeople, hunters and warriors who were largely converted to Christianity between the fifth and seventh centuries. They developed a superb and highly original art that chiefly survives in the form of sculptured stones, many of which can still be seen in and around Angus.
One such stone remains at Balluderon, also known as St Martin's Stone. Although it is broken and only the four-foot high lower section survives, it depicts a relief carved horseman and is considered unusual because it is decorated on one face only. St Martin's Stone is also, reputedly, one of the stones that relates the famous legend of the Nine Maidens.