Provenance
Discovery: The two fragments were found built into the north and east walls of the north porch of the church in 1894 by F. H. Nicholls. In 1896, the fragments were removed from the walls and placed together within the church. The ogham was first mentioned by Langdon and Allen in 1895 but a reading was not provided.
Findspot: Lewannick, Cornwall, England (National Grid Reference: SX 2760 8070)
Last recorded location(s): Currently located inside the church at the north or west end where it was examined and recorded by the OG(H)AM team in April 2024.
Support
Historic Environment Record ID: HER Number: 17595
Object type: Pillar
Material: Grit
Dimensions: H 1.5 × W 0.35 × D 0.27 m
Condition: A block in two pieces bearing bilingual inscriptions. There are two ‘intact’ (Macalister 1945, 444) ogham inscriptions (1) and an incomplete Latin inscription (2) which is ‘only slightly deteriorated’ (Okasha 1993, 150).
Inscription
Text field: The ogham inscriptions (1) occupy two angles of one face. Both ogham inscriptions currently read vertically downwards (the stone may have originally been positioned the other way up). Between the ogham inscriptions, there is a Latin inscription (2) in one line on the face, carved in the same direction as the ogham and so also currently reading vertically downwards (facing left), without the assistance of ‘framing-lines or panels’ (Okasha 1993, 150).
Letters: Both the ogham and Latin inscriptions appear to have been pocked and the ogham strokes are of average length and width and are well spaced.
Date: Fifth century (palaeographic)
Edition
Ogham text: ᚒᚇᚄᚐᚌᚊᚔ ᚒᚂᚉᚐᚌᚅᚔ
Transcription: UDSAGQI ULCAGNI
Critical apparatus:
- The second line of ogham here is a correction of the ogham on the first angle. It appears that the carver initially attempted ULCAGNI, but confused the orientation of the strokes from the first two aicmi and instead carved UDSAGQI. The name was then re-carved correctly on the opposite angle but there is no attempt to remove the erroneous carving. This is the second ogham from this south-west region with a spelling error. The same mistake was made at Fardel 30 miles away.
Translation
Ogham: of Olcán
Roman: here lies Olcán
Commentary
The same name (ULCAGNAS) is found about 23 miles away at Nanscow (CIIC 472. VLCAGNI FILI | SEVERI), at Llaniihangel loreth in Wales (CIIC 370. VLCAGNVS - in nom. after HIC IACIT) and at Ballyhank, Co. Cork (I-COR-049) in Ireland . There are three examples from Anglesey of the same formula (i.e. personal name in genitive with ‘hic iacit’).
The palaeography of the Latin inscription (2) suggests a date in the 5th century. The -AGNI ending (later -ANN and eventually -án) of the ogham inscription also suggests a relatively early date.
References
- Macalister 1945, 444, no. 467
- Okasha 1993, 150-153, no. 150