Provenance
Discovery: First recognised by Robert Cogle in 1875 when the slab was found in the chapel graveyard.
Findspot: Dunrossness, Shetland, Scotland (National Grid Reference: HU 4330 2790)
Current repository: Scotland National Museums of Scotland (inv. no. IB114)
Last recorded location(s): Now in the National Museums of Scotland, where it was seen and recorded in 3d (using photogrammetry) for the OG(H)AM project in November 2024.
Support
Mail Cemetery Trove: 938
Object type: Slab
Material: Sandstone
Dimensions: H 0.24 × W 0.2 × D 0.45 m
Decoration: One side of the slab features part of a design in a square border.
Condition: The slab is a fragment of a larger monument and preserves a short fragment of an ogham inscription on one side and a partial design on the other. The slab is in very poor condition and is heavily laminated in thick layers (Forsyth 1996, 210).
Inscription
Text field: The ogham inscription is on an artificial stem-line on one side of the slab. The surviving portion of the stem-line is 225mm long and clearly continued beyond what is now currently visible. The angle of the third letter indicates the direction in which the text is to be read.
Letters: The individual ogham strokes have been pocked and rubbed, and the stem-line cut again on top of the cross-strokes (Forsyth 1996, 210). The individual strokes are evenly carved and the letters spaciously arranged. The ogham inscription is written with bind oghams. Forsyth (1996, 210) states that the two angular strokes are bound at the tips and the bind line extends beyond the second angled stroke. The maximum length of the long strokes is 65mm.
Edition
Transcription: [---]I̱[D]RU[---]
Critical apparatus:
- Forsyth (1996, 211) indicates the possibility of a lost character (D, or H) between the I and the R that is not shown in Allen and Anderson’s (1903, fig. 11) drawing. She also notes that the final two angular strokes are bound at the tips and the bind line extends beyond the last angled stroke so that this is at least the remains of a U and might be the remains of an E or I. 2. The slight gap between the I and R is unlikely to mark word-division because where indicated, this is shown with pairs of dots on either side of the stem, not by spacing of letters.
Translation
A translation cannot be provided.
Commentary
It is not clear whether the contrast between ‘straight’ and ‘angled’ vowels is a purely stylistic variation in script, or whether it was intended to differentiate between vowel sounds. However, since both commonly appear in the same inscription, often along with further supplementary vowel letters, it may well be the latter. Angled vowels occur on Birsay 1, Burrian, Cunningsburgh 3, Formaston, Lunnasting, and possibly on Golspie.
Since so little survives, and from the middle of a possibly extensive text, it is difficult to extract linguistic information from this inscription. There is nothing about the sequence which requires or precludes interpretation as Celtic (Forsyth 1996, 212).
References
- Allen and Anderson 1903, Fig. 11
- Forsyth 1996, 206-212
- West 2013-06-08