Although nothing remains of any buildings which may have served the Church from 849 onwards, parts of a number of carved stones do survive from this period. These may either have served some ecclesiastical function, or simply marked important graves. The earliest of them is now in the base of the cathedral tower, although it was previously in the park of Dunkeld House.

The single unfinished carving on it shows a man on horseback blowing a horn and holding a spear.
Two other early stones formed parts of cross slabs, and are now displayed in the chapter house. One of them has a portion of a simple cross on one side; it was reused by a farmer as his tombstone in 1729, and was presumably cut down at the time. The other, which is locally known as the ‘Apostles’ Stone’ is much more elaborately carved, although very badly weathered through being used for a long period as a churchyard gatepost. On it are shown large numbers of men and beasts whose meaning is uncertain: perhaps it was carved to commemorate a war-like individual, since one small figure appears to have been beheaded. The two cross slabs are probably of the ninth or tenth century.

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