Parish Find Location 
Bro

Find Location 
The tower of Bro church.

Find Context Classification 
Church

Coordinate Find Location (lat) 
6397282

Coordinate Find Location (long) 
707221

Parish Present Location 
Bro

Present Location 
In situ, incorporated into the tower wall.

Present Location Classification 
Church
In-Loco

Coordinate Present Location (lat) 
6397282

Coordinate Present Location (long) 
707221

Material 
Limestone

Height 
80

Thickness 
17

Lindqvist Type 
A (ca. 400-600)

Lindqvist Shape 
Kerb stone

Runic Inscription or not 
No

Context and Discovery 
On the site of the present church in Bro, a Romanesque stone church with a nave and a choir with apse was built in the middle or second half of the 12th century (on the building history: Lundmark 1929; Lagerlöf/Svahnström 1991, pp. 101–104; on the new finds based on excavations and dendrochronological investigations: Widerström 2001a–c; Andrén 2011, pp. 167–169.). Somewhat later, in 1214, the Romanesque tower still standing today was added, the beams of which have been dendrochronologically dated. Whether there was already a wooden church on the site before the stone building remains unclear; no remains of a predecessor building could be found. During the 13th century, today’s large rectangular choir with sacristy was completed, and around 1300 the new Gothic nave. Consequently, only the tower and a few stones of an animal frieze in the south side of the nave are preserved from the early stone church; the foundation of the Romanesque nave was confirmed during excavations in 2001. Under the nave of the church, in addition to medieval and modern burials, some grave finds from the 11th century were recovered; they belong to the group of kyrkogårdsfynden (ʻchurchyard findsʼ). A dress pin from the 10th century found in the tower could be explained as a single find, but also allows the possibility that the church was built on a pre-Christian burial ground. From the 15th century at the latest, Bro church was an important pilgrimage and sacrificial church, which kept a Holy Cross relic (Lundmark 1929, pp. 254–256; Stolt 2007, pp. 12–14; Pernler 2013, p. 92). According to popular tradition, there was a healing spring next to or even inside the church (in the sacristy) in the 18th century at the latest. This circumstance, as well as a tree trunk walled into the tower in a curious way, the root of which protrudes from the west wall, have given rise to the assumption that the church was built on a pre-Christian cult site. However, there is no compelling evidence for this (Oehrl 2016a).

So far, eleven Type A picture stones and kerbstones have been found in the church of Bro (Oehrl 2016a, pp. 250–252). Six of these stones were found in the tower built in 1214: GP 44 Bro kyrka II is built into the southern outer wall of the tower (today the northern inner wall of the chamber added around 1300); GP 42 Bro kyrka III and GP 49 Bro kyrka IV lie horizontally with their obverse facing upwards and with the trimmed edge outwards as the fifth and seventh steps from the bottom in the staircase in the south wall of the tower (both discovered by E. Lundmark in 1913; Lundmark 1929, p. 279; Lindqvist 1941/42 II, pp. 31–32); GP 35 Bro kyrka 10 and GP 36 Bro kyrka 11 were reused as foundation stones in the south wall of the tower, detected during excavations in 2001 (Widerström 2001a, p. 173; 2001c, p. 8). Bro kyrka V is integrated into the inside of the western tower wall at the northwest corner, 2.3 m above ground in the tower vault (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, 32). Surprisingly enough, it was not registered in Jan Peder Lamm’s list.
SO
GP 44 Bro kyrka II
GP 42 Bro kyrka III
GP 49 Bro kyrka IV
GP 35 Bro kyrka 10
GP 36 Bro kyrka 11

Measurements, Material and Condition 
The kerbstone slab is incorporated horizontally, the obverse and reverse are hidden in the masonry, so that only the narrow side is visible in the wall. Lindqvist describes the stone as follows: “Limestone slab, 17 cm thick. Visible is only the narrow side that originally faced outward, which is slightly convex longitudinally and features groups of about 3 cm wide grooves, alternately running crosswise and lengthwise. One field of five grooves running lengthwise is 21 cm long, a neighbouring field with eight grooves running crosswise is 24 cm long. The preserved length of the edge is 80 cm” (1941/42 II, p. 32).
SO

Description of Ornament and Images 
The only visible decoration is formed by the groove pattern described above (see V), which is very similar to GP 377–381 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIa–e. There are no photos or drawings of the stone preserved, neither in Lindqvist’s book nor in the archives in Stockholm and Visby.
SO
GP 377 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIa
GP 378 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIb
GP 379 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIc
GP 380 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VId
GP 381 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIe

Interpretation of the Imagery 
No interpretation

Type and Dating 
Lindqvist (1941/42 I, pp. 28, 31–33, 110) categorized Bro kyrka V as a kerbstone (Randstein) that he includes within his ʻAbschnittʼ A which dates to circa AD 400–600 (see also Oehrl 2019a, pp. 8–10). According to Lindqvist (1933, pp. 105, 107; 1941/1942 I, pp. 31–33), the kerbstones formed an edge chain which surrounded a grave mound, possibly with an erected Type A picture stone in the center. However, no evidence has been found to confirm that any of the erected Type A picture stones were placed within a grave mound (Larkin 2023a, p. 50). Bro kyrka V corresponds to Lindqvist’s (1941/42 I, pp. 28, 33) group 7 kerbstones which are described as “kerbstone slabs without decoration on the broad sides, the narrow sides often grooved in alternating direction” (Randsteinplatten ohne Verzierung auf der Breitseite, die Kante in oft wechselnder Richtung gerieft). However, since the stone is built into the wall, the broad side is not visible. Apart from GP 377–381 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VI a–e, the kerbstones GP 376 Stenkyrka kyrka III and GP 382 Stenkyrka Tystebols II were also included by Lindqvist within this group. However, on close visual inspection of GP 382 Stenkyrka Tystebols II, a few centimeters of two thin incised parallel grooves have been found on the broad side of the stone (Larkin 2023a, p.24, fig. 24).
CJL/SO
GP 377 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIa
GP 378 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIb
GP 379 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIc
GP 380 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VId
GP 381 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIe
GP 376 Stenkyrka kyrka III
GP 382 Stenkyrka Tystebols II

References 
Lindqvist 1941/42 I, p. 28; 1941/42 II, p. 32; Oehrl 2016a, pp. 251–252.

Title
GP 580 Bro kyrka V

RAÄ ID 
Bro 24

Lindqvist Title 
Bro, Kirche V