- Chapter Thirty-Seven -
The Earlier MonumentsThe first group, and the earliest carved stones with Christian significance, are gener-
ally dated to the fifth-seventh centuries (though some later examples are known)
(Figure 37.4 top left). There are some 150 early stones inscribed in Latin or ogam with
Christian associations known from Wales (Nash-Williams's Group I) from the
period, about 50 from Cornwall and Devon, and a smaller number from southern
Scotland and the Isle of Man. The earliest inscriptions are in Roman capital letters,
while the later ones are in half-uncials, a form of letter copied from manuscripts.
The stones vary in size and shape, but most are undressed boulders chosen for their
natural regularity. As with those from Ireland and Scotland, those from Wales acted as
grave-markers, memorials or boundary markers between territories. The inscriptions
are thought to record individuals of high standing, and the dead person's father is
often also named (reflecting the importance of kinship in Celtic society). These stones
have been found in a wide range of locations: beside earlier roads, tracks, or ridgeway
routes, in churchyards, or incorporated in recent times into walls or buildings. Some
are associated with cemeteries, where they are often found in reused positions or
where there has been a custom of incorporating them into grave backfill.
Ogam script was probably developed and first used in Ireland, though precisely
when is under debate (see below). Approximately 330 stone memorials have been
recorded in Ireland, concentrated in the south-west. This distribution extends to
south-west Wales, Cornwall and to a lesser extent the Isle of Man, North Wales
and Dalriada, and is taken to illustrate the early presence of Irish-speaking or
Irish-descended people. Some of the stones are clearly Christian, bearing crosses
(some are certainly later additions) or references to Christian offices.^9 Unlike the
stones in Wales where the use of Latin and ogam side by side suggests a degree of
contact between the two traditions, Irish ogam-inscribed stones are normally mono-
lingual (an exception being one from Killeen Cormaic, Colbinstown, Co. Kildare)
(Figure 37.5).
Figure 37.5 Top left: Two faces of the Tywyn stone, Gwynedd. The half-unical text, uncer-
tain in detail, has been rendered by the late Sir Hor Williams as follows:
(a) Cengrui (or Tengrui) cimalted gu(reic)/adgan/ant erunc du but marciau/ ('Ceinrwy
wife of Addian (lies here) close to Bud (and) Meirchiaw)
(b) cun ben celen:/tricet nitanam ('Cun, wife of Celyn: grief and loss remain')
Top right: Stone from Ackergill, Caithness, with an ogam inscription which reads NEHTETRI
... ,possibly an abbreviated form of the name Nechton. (Photo: The Trustees of the National
Museums of Scotland.)Bottom left: The Trecastle stone from Capel Iiud, Cwm Crai, Powys. The other side bears the
fifth/sixth-century inscription in Latin: [M]ACCVTRENI + SALICIDVNI, and ogam (read
upwards): MAQITRENI SALICIDVNI (,The stone of Maccutrenus Salicidunus'). (Photo:
British Museum.)
Bottom right: Tenth-century cross-slab from Meifod, Powys, bearing a crucifix, ring cross,
Celtic plaits and Scandinavian knots and animals. (Photo: National Museum of Wales.)