Burra Monk's Stone

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Monk's Stone from Papil, West Burra. The photo by C.J. (Clement) Williamson from Peter Jamieson's Letters on Shetland (1949) is entitled 'Papil Stone', leading to confusion with the Papil Pictish Symbol Stone.

It is suggested that the Monk's Stone was the front slab from a shrine of an earlier church on the site of St Laurence's kirk, Papil, West Burra.

It was found by local Jerry Jamieson during gravedigging at Papil in 1943. The stone stood upright in the soil, supported by the two socket stones. The stone was brought to Lerwick, and for many years was in the lobby of the county buildings.

It is interpreted as the "arrival of christianity" in Shetland - or at least: the arrival of iro-celtic monks (the spiral structure below the monks interpreted as the waves of the sea they crossed). The stone dates back to the 9th, probably to the 8th century.

The senior monk (a bishop although he holds no crozier in his hand - or just the oldest) is riding on a horse which is regarded as the best sculpture of a horse of this time. Whether it is a Shetland pony or an imported beast like an Eriskay pony (a breed that goes definitely back to Pictish times) - we don't know.

The stone is in care of the Shetland Museum.