Ulbster 2

St Martin’s Stone is a Class I symbol stone which features a double disc and Z-rod and a mirror.

The stone is thought to have originally stood in the burial ground of St Martin’s Chapel at Ulbster, not far from the Ulbster Stone. It was later reused as a grave slab to the east of the 18th century Sinclair mausoleum.

In September 2022 the stone was rediscovered buried under turf by a member of the public who was recording the kirkyard’s gravestones. The stone was removed for conservation in November 2022 and in June 2025 was put on display in the North Coast Visitor Centre in Thurso.

The stone, which is thought to date to the 6th or 7th centuries, features incomplete carvings of an elaborate double disc and Z-rod and a mirror symbol. Parts of the surface of the stone have delaminated, damaging the remaining carvings and obliterating any others that may once have decorated the stone. The other face of the stone is yet to be inspected.

Measuring around 1.83m tall by 0.7m wide and around 0.16m thick, the stone is a slab of Old Red Sandstone.