Site: Latheron

Name:Latheron CISP No:LARON
Place:Latheron Grid Ref:ND 1981 3315 (GB)   Map
Parish:inc Stones:1
County:Caithness , Scotland Saint(s):none
Site Type:modern secondary

Site Notes

Forsyth/1996, 360: `a byre at Latheron, Caithness. ... A second fragment [i.e. not the ogham stone] was found built into the same byre: a cross slab ... on which the only carving to survive is the outline of parts of the side of the arms of the cross and the remains of the splayed shaft. ... A third fragment, part of a Class I symbol stone was found forming the lintel of a false window in the south gable of the farmhouse of Latheron Mains. ... Apart from these three pieces of sculpture, which encompass Class I, II and III, there is no other evidence for early medieval activity at Latheron. The two cross-slabs, however, might be thought indicative in themselves of some kind of ecclesiastical site. .. It is significant that the name Latheron (or Latheron-wheel < Gaelic Latharn a'phuill 'Latheron of the hole or pool', attested 1287 as Lagheryn, Laterne) is one of the few Celtic names to have survived in an area with an overwhelmingly Norse toponymy. It is impossible to know whether the name was originally Brittonic or Goidelic since the root lath is common to both giving Welsh llaid `mire', Irish lathach `puddle', Scottish Gaelic ląthach'.

References

Stones