Seven swirling spirals

In this beautifully clear drawing George Bain has recorded one of the simplest but most exquisite uses of spiral decoration. It is at the centre of the front of the Pictish sculptured stone in Aberlemno churchyard. The balance and consistency of the seven interlinked triple spirals make something almost hypnotic. They draw the eye to the central roundel of the Christian cross.

It is not clear why Bain decided to make this drawing.  It could have been for the pure pleasure of capturing such a superbly simple but effective design. A clue might also be that he used the design to illustrate one method of joining spirals in Methods of Construction.  The Aberlemno spirals also feature in Bain’s 1936 article for the Gaelic Society of Inverness. There, he allows himself a little tirade about earlier, inaccurate, published interpretations of the design.