swastikas on scottish headstones

To date there does not appear to be any article of substance or importance published on this subject in English. Very little is known about these examples of the swastika in Scotland because they often turn up in unexpected places, off the beaten path and the relevant artifacts are sometimes only found in museums.

In this article on the swastika in Scotland, we’ll look at some of the earliest examples that have been found. The story begins with that collection of Celtic warrior tribes that came to be known collectively as the Picts. They were well known for their artwork and many examples of elaborately carved stones can still be seen in the field today.

Sometimes we come across simple swastikas, and sometimes complex designs with the general appearance of swastikas, as found on a tomb slab now placed in the Meigle Museum, Perth. Four figures have been arranged in a swastika-like pattern. The style is very similar to Kells Market Cross, in the Republic of Ireland.

While some of these examples clearly come from the earlier pagan period, many have a clear and unmistakable Christian connotation. So where did this symbolic device come from?

While most people talk about it as a ‘swastika’, other terms may be used. ‘Gammadion’ is particularly appropriate when the symbol originated from a classical Christian source, as found in the catacombs of Rome and elsewhere in the early centuries CE. Its name derives from the quadruplicated Greek capital letter ‘Gamma’. On the other hand, ‘Fylfot-Cross’ may be used when it can be clearly shown to have originated in the British Isles, in parts of Western Europe, or when the feet of this geometric device are shorter than the crossed arms.

Was there in fact an established tradition of using the Gammadion on gravestones, as a Christian symbol, in the period when the Barhobble cross slab originated? Discovered by Mrs Sheila Cormack at Mochrum, Wigtownshire, during excavations from 1984-1994, the Barhobble Cross Slab measures approximately 2ft by 1ft. and is in shallow relief with an expanded arm cross, the surface of which is plain except for an incised Gammadion on the underarm. Dating from the 10th or 11th century, it was closely associated with a local center of Christian worship.

The swastika has often been thought to have arisen from pagan sources and was later ‘Christianized’. However, we can draw attention to these influences on Celtic iconography and the symbolic tradition of the South. Both Saint Ninian (AD 360-432) and Saint Patrick (AD 389-461) had warm contacts with the Continent and, by association, with the strong symbolic traditions that grew out of those early years of Christianity in Rome. .

It has been suggested that the Vikings in their exploratory forays into Russia and beyond introduced the Gammadion as a sacred symbol to Byzantium, but they were already familiar with this device, whether regarded as a symbol of Odin or Thor. It would seem then that neither paganism nor Christianity could claim on its own a symbolic device that had had such a long and complex history.

Returning to Barhobble, can we answer the question of whether there was an established and unequivocal Christian tradition of using the Gammadion on tombstones? Evidence from the neighboring districts of Scotland and the north of England seems to confirm this. In fact, there are a number of examples of parallel usage in Scotland, the Isle of Man and neighboring Cumbria.

We discover a complex interplay of the Celtic and Viking traditions of sepulchral art. As in Anatolia, in Scotland, Christian sculptors were happy to use traditional pagan imagery but imbue it with new meaning. Irish cross slabs have often held the equal-armed Greek cross in close juxtaposition with the Gammadion. In all probability they were considered by the sculptors of the time as freely interchangeable representations of the Christian cross. As we move further into the south-east of Scotland, we find similar examples at Cambusnethan, Wishaw, and at Greens, Carnwath.

Although the matter cannot be fully proven, there is, we maintain, significant evidence to suggest that many, if not all, of the Gammadion occurrences in Scotland were considered by their sculptors to be legitimate variants of the Latin or Greek cross.