Provenance
Discovery: Known as the Llywel or Trecastle Stone, it was first recognised as significant by Revd Lewis Price, vicar of Llywel in April 1876. According to Macalister (1945, 326), ‘the monument stood on the side of the road from Trecastle to Glasfynydd upon a heap of stones with which it seems at one time to have been covered; and it was rescued from being converted to a gatepost just in time’. The stone was sold to the British Museum on 11 February 1878.
Findspot: Llywel, Brecknockshire (Brycheiniog), Wales (National Grid Reference: SN 8829 2645)
Current repository: England British Museum (inv. no. 1878,1102.1)
Last recorded location(s): Now in The British Museum, London.
Support
CPAT Regional Historic Environment Record (PRN): 19394
Object type: Slab
Material: Sandstone
Dimensions: H 1.82 × W 0.60 × D 0.14 m
Decoration: The stone is inscribed on one side and decorated with pictographs on the other. A Latin cross was subsequently inserted at the centre of the Latin inscription. The stone was later inverted and the back decorated with a series of three vertical panels, each containing a pictogram with a human figure (Redknap and Lewis 2007, 237-238).
Condition: The top of the stone is missing and the bottom has been trimmed. The rest of the stone is in good condition except for an unfinished drilled hole on its inscribed face.
Inscription
Text field: The ogham inscription runs along the right-hand edge, reading vertically upwards. A corresponding Latin inscription runs vertically down the middle of the stone in one line reading downwards
Letters: The ogham inscription is neatly chiselled. The roman-letter inscription consists of well-spaced capitals but there is ‘no writing-line’ (Redknap and Lewis 2007, 238). Redknap and Lewis (2007, 238) also note that there is an ‘economy of effort shown in making the second inverted V of the opening M to serve also as the A of MACUTRENI. Both in the LICI and NI of the SALICIDUNI the designer has allowed breathing space for the Is’, demonstrating that the lapidary had some training.
Date: Fifth century A.D. (textual context)
Edition
Ogham text: ᚋᚐᚊᚔᚈᚏᚓᚅᚔ ᚄᚐᚂᚔᚉᚔᚇᚒᚅᚔ
Transcription: MAQITRENI SALICIDUNI
Critical apparatus:
- Macalister (1945, 326) notes the use of double C in MACCV in the roman-letter inscription to correspond with the Q in MAQI in the ogham inscription. As Redknap and Lewis (2007, 238) recount, Macalister (1945, 326) read G for C in the roman-letter Saliciduni, but there seems to be no grounds for doubting the C reading.
Translation
Ogham: of Maqas-Treni Salicidunus/-i
Roman: of Maccutreni Salicidunus/-i
Commentary
The name MAQITRENI / [M]ACCVTRENI is Irish. The stone, along with another stone at Llywel, could indicate the placement of the estate of Maccutrenus or could have ‘formed the nucleus of an early Christian burial-ground’, however, this is not certain as the name was popular in Britain and Ireland (Redknap and Lewis 2007, 238). The second element of the name may be related to Welsh trwyn in the name Cyndrwyn. Regarding the name SALICIDUNI / SALICIDVNI, Sims-Williams (Redknap and Lewis 2007, 238) notes that it may be Welsh or Irish. SALICIDUNI / SALICIDVNI means ‘willow fort’, and could be a personal name or a place-name, Salicidunum, associated with the deceased.
On the context of this stone, Redknap and Lewis (2007, 238) note that ‘this stone belongs to a small group (Crickhowell 1 (B2), Defynnog 1(B4), Llywel 1 (B41) and Trallwng 1 (B45)) in the Upper Usk Valley commemorating men with Irish names, some of which are also found in north-west Pembrokeshire (Nash-Williams 1950, no 425)’.
References
- Redknap and Lewis 2007, 235-240
- Macalister 1945, 326-327, no. 341
- Nash-Williams 1950, no. 425