A Brechin stone carver spent months creating a stone commemorating the area’s Pictish heritage, only for it to be vandalised two days later.
Dean Gowans, 32, had spent months carving the sculpture as the final project of his apprenticeship with Monikie Rock Art.
The stone was commissioned as part of the Brechin Community Led Tourism project to create monuments that celebrate the area’s history.
The Centaur Stone was laid in the Brechin Den on Friday morning – and by the end of the weekend it had been chipped and cracked.
The Angus stone carver was shocked to discover the vandalism to the stone, which weighs approximately 500kg and is 1.2 metres tall and 60cm wide.
Dean said: “It had only been there two days. Everyone is a bit shocked.
“It was my first big solo project. We don’t use any machine tools for making the stone, it’s all done manually.
“I think it’s been hit with a hammer. You can see very clearly where it’s hit the stone and taken it off.
“A large amount of force would be needed to hit it. It’s not even really been publicised that it’s there.”
‘Really quite grim’
David McGovern, of Monikie Rock Art, was commissioned as part of the community project to create three Pictish stones.
He said: “I thought it would be good opportunity for Dean to design and carve something himself.
“He carved it as his final apprenticeship piece so it’s quite a big deal for him.
“So for it to be vandalised after a couple days is really quite grim.
“We’re gonna have a shot at repairing it or we might have to re-shape it.
“It’s extra work we didn’t really ned to do, so it’s costing me time and money.
“It’s just so pointless.”
Who were the Picts?
The Picts were first mentioned in history during the Roman campaign of Emperor Severus in 210 AD.
Little about their time is clear, other than they lived in Scotland in the first millennium AD and their territory was taken over by the Scots in the 9th Century.
What has survived is their carved symbol stones, many of which are located in Angus.
The Brechin Community Led Tourism project is managed by the Angus Tourism Cooperative.
Norma Lyall from the cooperative said: “We’re creating a heritage trail with Pictish-style stones and many other projects within the town to encourage visitors to come to Brechin and the wider Angus area.
“We’d like to encourage people to come down into the Den and see all of the great work done by locals.
“There has been funding put in place, these stone carvers are really talented and the stone will be repaired.
“The stone is not going to be removed and it’s there to stay.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We are currently investigating an incident in the cemetery in South Esk Street, Brechin. Sometime between 9pm on Friday, May 27 and 9am Monday, May 30, a stone sculpture was damaged.
“The sculpture is in the form of a pictish stone made of red sandstone. A large chunk of it has been broken off, likely having been struck by a hammer or something similar, causing hundreds of pounds worth of damage.
“If you have any information that could assist us, please call 101 or speak to any police officer. Also, information can be given anonymously through CrimeStoppers on 0800 555 111. Our reference is incident 0872 of May 30.”
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