Parish Find Location 
Kräklingbo

Find Location 
Kräklingbo churchyard, in front of the choir portal.

Find Context Classification 
Churchyard

Coordinate Find Location (lat) 
6373033

Coordinate Find Location (long) 
722682

Parish Present Location 
Kräklingbo

Present Location 
Kräklingbo churchyard, attached to the northern wall of the sacristy.

Present Location Classification 
Churchyard

Coordinate Present Location (lat) 
6373033

Coordinate Present Location (long) 
722682

Material 
Limestone

Limestone Type 
coarse reef debris limestone

Geological Group 
not dated yet geologically

Height 
184

Width 
107 (now 97 at the base)

Lindqvist Type 
C/D (ca. 700-1000)

Lindqvist Shape 
Tall stone

Runic Inscription or not 
No

Secondary Inscription or Not 
Yes

Secondary Inscription
Roosval and Lagerlöf (1959, p. 524) described the inscription as almost erased and only mentioned the clearly legible names Margrete Gurpa and Mats G. Even in the 1980s, when Böttger-Niedenzu rediscovered the picture stone, the inscription was heavily overgrown and barely legible, but it has since been cleaned and redrawn with black paint. Only a few places remained unclear, but the corresponding letters are easy to reconstruct. Böttger-Niedenzu believed that the entire inscription was written in Latin, but it actually is in Danish. It is placed on bands consisting of two parallel lines, four horizontal bands on the base of the picture stone, featuring the beginning and the end of the inscription, and one band framing the stone. The base of the picture stone has represented the head of the recumbent grave slab, the beginning and the end of the inscription are now consequently upside down. The two upper (now lower) corners are decorated with circular lines.

Transliteration:
AN[N]O:D[OMI]NI:1582:LOD:MARGRETA:GURPA:LEGE:DEN[N]E:STEN:OFVER:SIN:SALIGE:HOSBONDE:MATS:G[URPA]:AFD? NAFN:GVD GIFVE HANN[EM] EN SALIG OPSTAND[ELSE] OIHG

Translation:
In the year of our Lord 1582, Margreta Gurpa had this stone raised over her blessed husband Mats Gurpa by name. May God grant him blessed resurrection. OIHG

The final sequence OIHG is probably to be understood as the initials of other family members, whereby the G at the end may indicate that these also come from Gurpa/Gurpe.

Context and Discovery 
After a subsequent entry in the manuscript of Lindqvistʼs book “Gotlands Bildsteine” kept in the university archive Uppsala, the stone was recognised as a picture stone for the first time by Harald Widén in 1945. At that time, it was located directly in front of the southern choir portal of the church. Lindqvist included a photograph of the stone in his manuscript, which shows it surrounded by several other recumbent stone slabs. In “Sveriges Kyrkor”, Roosval and Lagerlöf (1952, p. 524) also mention these limestone slabs of which they name two, the one to be described here and another with the date 1702 inscribed. This is the first published mention of the stone, albeit only cursorily and without naming it as a picture stone. In 1983, Beata Böttger-Niedenzu became aware of the stone, which at that time stood at the northern outer wall of the sacristy, identified it as a picture stone and included it in her small catalogue of new finds published in 1988 (p. 11). It was then also included by Jan Peder Lamm in his list and the inventory of RAÄ.

The picture stone was reused as a grave slab in the late 16th century and an inscription was added (see VIII). The secondary inscription names the widow Margreta Gurpa and her deceased husband Mats G[urpa]. Gurpa or Gurpe is a farm a few kilometres north of the church. It is likely that the picture stone was found on the property of this very farm and then re-used as a gravestone by the owners of the farm.

Measurements, Material and Condition 
The light grey limestone slab is 1.84 m high and 1.07 wide at the base. The monument is almost completely preserved; only the root is broken off and the mushroom-shaped outer contour of the picture stone is somewhat smoothed and indistinct. However, the convex head and its typical corners are still clearly recognisable. The surface is heavily abraded, so that hardly any remnants of the original decoration are visible. The stone was recently cleaned and freed from growth, but new lichen has already started to grow. The slab rests on a stone plate, which lies on a gravel bed, and it is attached to the wall of the sacristy with iron clamps.

Description of Ornament and Images 
It is very hard to identify any traces of the original decoration since the surface appears to have been deliberately erased and smoothed. Böttger-Niedenzu (1988, p. 11) notes: “Traces of carvings on the left edge, forming the outward sweeping course of the edge border at the transition from the body of the picture stone to the left corner of its head.”

Interpretation of the Imagery 
No interpretation

Type and Dating 
Tall mushroom-shaped late-type picture stone, i.e., Type C/D according to Lindqvistʼs typology. Those monuments can only be roughly dated to the period between the 8th century (or rather around AD 800) and the 10th century. Type E is less probable since E-stones of this size are usually carved with deep and distinct inscriptions and rune stone ornament which do not disappear completely.

References 
Roosval/Lagerlöf 1959, p. 524; Böttger-Niedenzu 1988, p. 11, figs. 7–8; Oehrl 2019a, p. 41, fig. 22a; 2020a, p. 90.

 
Fyndplats
Bildstenen observerades första gången 1945, då den stod på kyrkogården framför södra korportalen.

Nuvarande lokalisering
Sedan åtminstone 1983 står bildstenen på kyrkogården mot sakristians norra mur.

Beskrivning
Stor svampformig bildsten (period C/D), med endast svaga spår av kantdekor.

Inskrift
Längs bildstenens kant en sekundär inskrift på danska från 1582, vilken visar att bildstenen då återanvändes som gravsten.

AN[N]O:D[OMI]NI:1582:LOD:MARGRETA:GURPA:LEGE:DEN[N]E:STEN:OFVER:SIN:SALIGE:HOSBONDE:MATS:G[URPA]:AFD?NAFN:GVD GIFVE HANN[EM] EN SALIG OPSTAND[ELSE] OIHG

Översättning till nusvenska: I Herrens år 1582, lät Margreta Gurpa lägga denna sten över sin salige husbonde Mats Gurpa, vid namn. Gud give honom en salig uppståndelse.

Gurpa är en gård några kilometer norr om kyrkan. Förmodligen kommer bildstenen från denna gårds ägor.

Datering
Kan inte dateras med säkerhet, men tillhör perioden cirka 700-900-talen.

Tolkning
Ingen tolkning.

AA

Title
GP 218 Kräklingbo kyrka

Fornsök ID 
L1977:8528

RAÄ ID 
Kräklingbo 91:2

Jan Peder Lamm ID 
415

ATA
K-Samsök