Provenance
Discovery: The stone was first noted in c. 1853 when it was built into the external wall face at the south-west corner of the tower immediately below the lower string-course at St Cynog’s Church. Huebner did not incorporate ogham into the illustration of the stone, neither did Westwood in 1876. Macalister (1945, 317-318) is the first to mention ogham.
Findspot: Defynnog, Brecknockshire (Brycheiniog), Wales (National Grid Reference: SN 925 279)
Last recorded location(s): Set against the west wall inside the porch of St Cynog’s Church by the Ministry of Public Building and Works c. 1970.
Support
National Monuments Record of Wales (NPRN): 275619
Object type: Pillar
Material: Sandstone
Dimensions: H 1.65 × W 0.26 × D 0.14 m
Decoration: The stone was inverted for the carving of an elaborate ring-cross. The ring-cross is outlined in ‘pecked double grooves and has a central boss; it is surmounted by four concentric triangles, the lower one conforming to the curved top of the ring-cross, forming an expanded-arm cross’ (Redknap and Lewis 2007, 164).
Condition: According to Redknap and Lewis (2007, 164) the surface round the cross has fractured away, and the right side has been damaged by dressing. The left side above the two-line inscription may have been trimmed. Macalister (1945, 318) notes that almost all of the ogham inscription was trimmed away and ‘only the tips of three letters lying upon the H-surface, remain’ The first letters of both lines of the roman-letter inscription are now obscured.
Inscription
Text field: It has been suggested that there are possible traces of an ogham inscription on the left angle above the first visible letter in the Latin inscription. Any such inscription likely would have read vertically upwards originally and vertically downwards if the stone is displayed with cross-carving at the top-end. Given the current state of the stone this cannot be said with certainty. Redknap and Lewis (2007, 164) deem evidence for the presence of any ogham inscription ‘unconvincing’ while Macalister (1945, 318) argues the presence of legible letters. The Latin inscription is in two lines, originally reading vertically downwards. The later addition of a cross-carving on what was originally the bottom-end of the stone has meant the inversion of reading direction of the inscriptions. If displayed with cross-carving at the top-end, the Latin incription reads vertically upwards.
Letters: There is no evidence to indicate how the ogham inscription might have been carved, so the execution technique remains unknown. The Latin inscription is punched lightly. Redknap and Lewis (2007, 164) described the roman-letter inscription as ‘formal’, consisting of widely spaced capitals with light weight and showed possible influence of Rustic written capitals.
Date: Fifth or early sixth century (lingustic)
Edition
Transcription: [---]Ṭ[---]Ṇ[---]Ḷ
Critical apparatus:
- Macalister (1945, 318) maintains that ‘the interspaces indicate that the ogham was exactly equivalent to the Latin (substituting A for the final O of the first word)’. There is some debate surrounding whether the legible characters of the ogham inscription are TNL or TQD. Where Macalister (1945, 317-8) suggests the latter in his drawing, the Redknap and Lewis (2007, 166) give the former but contend that ‘this is doubtful’.
Translation
Latin (2): of [?Br]ugniatius, son of Vendonius
Commentary
Interpretation of the inscription is inhibited by the loss of the first letters in the inscription. Sims-Williams (Redknap and Lewis 2007, 166) favours the restoration of the first line to ‘[B]RVGN-’ which is the preform to OI brón, MW brwyn ‘sorrow’. This appears in MW and OW personal names Bruin, Brwyn and Brwyno as well as OB Broin, Broen and OI Brónach. Sims-Williams (Redknap and Lewis 2007, 166) maintains that given the location of the stone in Brycheiniog, it is also worth noting that Englynion y Beddau (CIB: 162) describes a ‘Bruin o Bricheinauc’. According to Sims-Williams (Redknap and Lewis 2007, 166), the rest of the name in the first line is most likely -IATIO which corresponds to the adjectival suffix appearing in Welsh euraid, ‘golden’. Sims-Williams (Redknap and Lewis 2007, 166) also points out that the phonetic preservation of -IAT- suggests that the name in the first line of the inscription is Welsh, and that the -O is likely a Vulgar Latin or Brittonic nominative ending seen elsewhere in Wales. The name on the second line of the inscription, VENDONI, is likely a spelling of the old Celtic name Vindonius. The spelling VEND- ‘white’ rather than VIND- is typical of Irish ogham inscriptions but this, as Sims-Williams (Redknap and Lewis 2007, 166) notes, also occurs in Romano-British sources.
References
- Redknap and Lewis 2007, 164-167
- Macalister 1945, 317-318, no.328
- Nash-Williams 1950, no. 307