The individual cross-slabs located on the Tarbat peninsula (Figure 2.2) have excited a great deal of scholarly interest in the past, focused primarily upon the Hilton of Cadboll slab and the slab at Nigg. However, the complete collection of Pictish monuments on the peninsula, which includes the enigmatic Shandwick stone and fragments from at least three additional cross-slabs originally located at the Tarbat Old Church, Portmahomack, have yet to be considered as a related group. ¹ Since the cross-slabs and the fragments display several related motifs, decorative details, and carving styles, it is highly likely that they were all the products of a 'school' of stone carvers probably located at the monastery and, as such, express a coherent political and/or spiritual programme. ²