It is one of the three Pictish stones located in recesses in the dry stone wall at the side of the B9134 road leading out of Aberlemno at Crosston, towards Brechin. It is the northernmost roadside stone.
An unshaped standing stone of Old Red Sandstone, Aberlemno 1 leans to the left as viewed from the front, symbol bearing face. It bears incised Pictish symbols, placing it under J Romilly Allen and Joseph Anderson's classification system as a Class I stone.[1] The carved symbols include a serpent, the double disc and Z-rod and the mirror and comb.[2] The meaning of these symbols is unknown. The rear face of the stone exhibits prehistoriccup marks, showing that it has been re-used.[3]
Cruickshank, Graeme (1985), Nechtansmere 1300: A Commemoration, Forfar: Forfar & District Historical Society
Cruickshank, Graeme (1991), The Battle of Dunnichen: an account of the Pictish victory at the Battle of Dunnichen, also known as Nechtansmere, fought on 20th May 685, Balgavies, Angus: Pinkfoot Press
Cummins, WA (1999). The Picts and their symbols. Stroud, Gloucester: Sutton Publishing.
Fraser, Iain (2008), The Pictish Symbol Stones of Scotland, Edinburgh: Royal Commission on the Ancienct and Historic Monuments of Scotland, ISBN978-1-9024-1953-4
Fraser, James E. (2006), The Pictish Conquest: The Battle of Dunnichen 685 and the Birth of Scotland, Stroud, Gloucester: Tempus
Henderson, Isabel (1962), "Two Pictish Symbol Stones", Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 95: 219–222, retrieved 2 April 2023
Woolf, Alex (2006). "Dun Nechtain, Fortriu and the Geography of the Picts". The Scottish Historical Review. 85: 182–201. doi:10.1353/shr.2007.0029. S2CID201796703.