Provenance
Discovery: Discovered in 2009 from a newly ploughed field adjacent to a burial ground beside the parish church of Breweni | Paul, Penwith.
Findspot: Penzance | Penwith, Cornwall, England (National Grid Reference: SW 46459 26933)
Current repository: England Royal Cornwall Museum (inv. no. TRURI : 2016.9.1)
Last recorded location(s): Now in the Royal Cornwall Museum, where it was examined and 3d recorded for the OG(H)AM project in April 2024.
Support
Portable Antiquities Scheme PAS ID: CORN-E8C291
Object type: Fragment of slate
Material: Slate
Dimensions: H 0.11 × W 0.07 × D 0.01 m
Condition: A small piece of local slate which must have been quite a bit larger to begin with, judging by the scale of the letters of the inscription. Too little of the inscription survives to support a reading and there is nothing to indicate any of the usual formula words.
Inscription
Text field: There are two drawn in stem-lines. The stem-lines are positioned one above the other, both contain evidence for the remains of ogham characters. The latter portion of the upper stem-line is blank. It is possible there was further carving above this top stem-line. To the right of the top stem-line, a downward stroke intersecting with a long horizontal bar can be discerned.
Letters: The letters are slim and have been carefully scored with a sharp point.
Edition
Transcription: [---]PS vac. [---]UX̣L[---] →
Critical apparatus:
- Line 1 has the remains of the lower part of either an epigraphic I-forfid (representing /p/) or possibly an X forfid (usually representing /K/, /X/ or /E/), followed by S (unless the remains of an E as the other side of the stem-line is lost) and then a blank stem-line. A downward stroke intersecting with a long horizontal bar can be discerned away to the right. It is somewhat lighter than the rest so may not be intended as lettering. 2. Line 2 has a vowel (U, or possibly E or I, if strokes have been lost at the beginning) then what appears to be another forfid, shaped like a Λ, descending from the stem-line, perhaps a badly executed X-forfid, or an epigraphic I-forfid with the meaning /p/ as in line 1. Finally, there are two, or probably three, strokes of a b-aicme consonant (V, or possibly S or N, if strokes have been lost at the end).
Commentary
The presence of a stem-line is not necessarily an indication of later date: the Newgrange ogham, which could be as early as the fourth century, is written on a stem-line. In this instance, the stem-line is perhaps explained simply by the thin nature of the slate ruling out the use of an arris. The value /p/ is assigned only tentatively. There are three instances of a similar forfid in use epigraphically (Crickhowell, Margam, and Cool East) but these appear to have two inward leaning strokes intersecting just below the stem, whereas one of these is definitely on the stem-line (with one stroke projecting a little beyond, giving more of an un-side-down Y-shape).
References
- Thomas and Forsyth 2016, 205-217