Puzzle solved: the fragment of a Pictish stone which helps explain the origins of Kilrenny, Fife. Picture: ROD FLEMING
AN ancient religious mystery has been solved with the chance discovery of a 1200 year-old Pictish stone in a farmyard wall.
The Fife village of Kilrenny has a Pictish name meaning Church of St Ethernan, but there are no signs of a Pictish church in the village.
Studies of the area have uncovered a monastery on the Isle of May in the Firth of Forth but no trace of a church or monastery on the mainland.
Archaeologists, however, have now identified a stone found in a farm near Kilrenny as a fragment from an early Christian symbol stone and pieced it together with another part of the same symbol stone discovered on a nearby beach.
The Pictish stones provide evidence of an eighth century settlement in Kilrenny and an explanation for the place name.
East Fife museums curator Mike King said: ''This latest discovery will help us to piece together more information about the Picts in Fife.''
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