CRCKH/1

(Turpillian Stone)
Corpus Refs:Macalister/1945:327
Nash-Williams/1950:43
Site:CRCKH
Discovery:first mentioned, 1774 Jones
History:Brash/1871a, 158--162: `Being desirous of making a personal examination of the Ogham inscribed stones of Wales, I was enabled to gratify my curiousity in the autumn of the past year...On my visit to that place, I found the greatest difficulty in finding its whereabouts...[for] it had been removed from the place of its original location, stated to be on the farm of Ty yn y wlad, off the road between Crickhowel and Lanbehr, to Glenusk Park, the residence of Sir Joseph Bailey, M.P., about two miles from Crickhowel. Proceeding to that place, I had the satisfaction of seeing it at last, standing about half way up the avenue, on the right hand-side, under a clump of trees...Having written to Sir Joseph Bailey some inquiries respecting the removal of the monument, he has kindly sent me the following information, that the stone was not on the farm of Ty yn y wlad, as stated by Jones and others, but on a farm of his own called Wern y Butler, adjoining the former; that it was placed as a foot-stone across a ditch, and in that position was entirely neglected, and hourly subjected to injury. Seeing the archaeological value of the monument, and its precarious and neglected position, he considered it prudent to place it in a position of safety by removing it to Glenusk Park'.

Westwood/1876, 73--74: `In 1846 I visited the farm of Wern-y-Butler, where the stone then was, and it was impossible to have discovered it had I not been accompanied by the proprietor of the farm, as it was completely overgrown with brambles, and the plough having cast earth up around it on which grass and moss had grown in profusion. The stone had even then been removed from its former position in an adjoining field on the farm of Ty-yn-y-wlâd...About ten years ago the stone was removed from its former situation to Glan Usk Park, the residence of Sir Joseph Bailey, M.P., about two miles west of Crickhowell, where it now stands in the midst of a small clump of trees about three furlongs to the east of his house, and where it was visited by the members of the Cambrian Archaeological Association at the Brecon Meeting in 1872, and again at the Abergavenny Meeting in 1876, when they were most hospitably received by Sir Joseph Bailey'.

Macalister/1945, 314: `In 1774 this stone was lying prostrate by the side of a ploughed field on the farm of Ty'n y Wlad, Crickhowel (Crug Hywel), and there overgrown with brambles...It was later removed to the garden of Glan Usk Park, close by where it now stands'.

Nash-Williams/1950, 69: `The stone stood in Glanusk Park until removed to Brecknock Museum (in 1948). Cast No. 06.482'.

Geology:
Dimensions:1.98 x 0.53 x 0.18 (converted from Macalister/1945)
Setting:inc
Location:Brecon (Cat: Cast No. 06.482)
Nash-Williams/1950, 69, states that the stone was moved to Brecknock Museum in 1948.
Form:plain
Westwood/1876, 73: `I found the stone to be nearly 3 yards long, 14 inches wide at one end, and two feet wide in the middle'.

Macalister/1945, 314, states that it is 9 foot in length.

Nash-Williams/1950, 69: `Rough pillar stone'.

From the drawings it can be seen that the top of the stone has a notch which must have existed when the oghams were carved as the script continues round it.

Condition:complete , some
Macalister/1945, 314: `much weathered, and the middle part of the Ogham is almost effaced, presumably by cattle-wear'.
Folklore:Macalister/1945, 314: `Jones's Brecknockshire tells a story, for what it may be worth, that certain wayfarers persuaded the farmer to dig beneath it --then standing upright -- in quest of gold, thereby keeping him out of the way while they looted the house. This, it is said, caused the fall of the monument'.
Crosses:none
Decorations:no other decoration

References


Inscriptions


CRCKH/1/1     Pictures

Readings

Brash, R.R. (1870):TUR{*}[I]LI
Expansion:
TURPILI
Translation:
Turpili (PN).
Brash/1871 160 concise discussion
Macalister, R.A.S. (1945):TUR{*}[I]L[I][--]LL[--]N[U!][--
Expansion:
TURPILI MOSAC TRALLONI
Macalister/1945 315--316 substantial discussion
Nash-Williams, V.E. (1950):TURPIL[--]LUNI
Expansion:
TURPIL[LI MAQI TRIL]LUNI
Translation:
(The stone) of Turpillius (PN), (son) of Trillunus (PN).
Nash-Williams/1950 69 reading only
McManus, D. (1991):TUTP[I]L[LI][--]L[U]N[I]
Expansion:
n/a
McManus/1991 67 reading only

Notes

Orientation:vertical up
Position:inc ; arris ; n/a ; undecorated
Taking the broad face inscribed with CRCKH/1/2 as the front, the inscription runs up the left hand side of the stone.

Nash-Williams/1950, 69: `The Ogam inscription is scored along the l. angle of the stone reading upwards'.

Incision:incised
Macalister/1945, 314: `well cut, not pocked'.
Date:500 - 599 (Nash-Williams/1950)
Language:Indeterminate (ogham)
Ling. Notes:Macalister/1945, 316, notes `the very rare word MOSAC, otherwise known to us only on one of the Whitfield stones (216)...it corresponds to the unique word PVVERI in the Roman. This cannot be accidental: the word must surely mean `boy' in the sense of `attendant' rather than of `son''.
Palaeography:Brash/1871a, 160, provides a long discussion as to why the fourth character, a cross (I-forfid) should be regarded as a consonant rather than the dipthong AE which is the meaning given by the Book of Ballymote.

Westwood/1876, 74: `With respect to the Oghamic marks, Messrs. T. Wright and C. Roach Smith (Journ. Brit. Arch. Association, Feb. 1847) suggest that the stone has been chipped along this edge, and that the marks which remain are portions of a series of numerals giving the age of the deceased. In the Archaeologia Cambrensis (1869, p. 153) Mr. Brash clearly proved these marks to be Oghams, but his figure of them in p. 154 by no means corresponds with the true position and form of the marks. These he partially corrected in his article on this stone (Arch. Camb., 1871, p. 158), showing that the marks on the stone, reading upwards from the bottom (and which are reproduced in the lower row of outlines in my plate as far upwards as the letter R in TRILVNI), clearly represent the Oghamic characters for the word TVRPILI...It is surprising that Mr. Brash overlooked the Ogham marks at the top of the stone terminating, or rather commencing, opposite the P at the beginning of the second line. These are added on my plate at the left-hand end of the stone from sketches and rubbings by myself and Mr. Robinson of Cardiff, one of the Secretaries of the Cambrian Archaeological Association. Prof. Rhys (Arch. Camb., 1874, p. 19) gives these upper marks as equivalent to Lluni, the remains of Trilluni, which occurs as Triluni in the Roman letters'.

Macalister/1945, 315--316: `The first four letters are quite clear, the P being represented by a simplified form of the I-forfid. The first three notches of the following I are broken away. There is only one L, though a fracture on the surface preceding it might be mistaken for a second L. The first two notches of the following I remain, the other three being quite abraded. Of the surviving notches, one is oblique and appears to be longer than the ordinary notches, so it might be mistaken for an ordinary M; it is not however, really longer than the vowel notches in the beginning of the inscription. After this, nothing is clear but LL..N, followed by three vowel notches, at the top of the stone. The two L's are crowded together and certainly would have been taken for an S if we had not the corrective guidance of the Roman TRILINI. The vowel between the L's and the N is gone: there is hardly room for U, and it most probably was an O. The top of the stone is broken carrying with it the two final notches of the final I. If there was ever anything in the Ogham corresponding to the concluding DVNOCATI of the Roman [CRCKH/1/2], it is altogether broken away: almost the whole back of the stone has become detached over a cleavage-plane, and it is quite possible that the completion of the inscription may thus have been lost.

Returning now to the space following TURPILI... the edge is almost worn smooth, but on minute examination the following traces can be detected:--

1. The B-half of an M, between the TR of the Roman TRILVNI.

2. An S, in line with the R of PVVERI.

3. The first and last scores of a C, in line respectively with the outer tips of the horizontal bars of the E of PVVERI, and with the vertical bar of the same letter.

4. The T of T[RA]LLONI, in line with the second V of PVVERI. Nothing remains of the R which should follow; it must have filled up so much of the available space that it would have been impossible to crowd in the five notches of an I. There is hardly room for more than the one notch of an A.

These traces are sufficient to enable us to fill in the inscription, as set forth above'.

Legibility:poor
Westwood/1876, 73, notes that many earlier authors had not believed that the marks on the left hand edge of the stone were ogham -- the first author to correctly discuss them being Brash (Rolt-Brash/1869) who then discussed them more fully in 1871 (Rolt-Brash/1871) at which time he offered a reading for the start of the inscription. Westwood goes on to note that it was surprising that Brash had missed the oghams near the top of the stone thought by Rhys (Rhys/1874) to represent LLUNI.

Macalister/1945, 314: `The letters were well cut, not pocked, and in broad lines: but they are much weathered, and the middle part of the ogham is almost effaced, presumably by cattle wear'.

Lines:1
Carving errors:n
Doubtful:no

Names

References


CRCKH/1/2     Pictures

Readings

Westwood, J.O. (1876):CIT | TURPILLIICIA | PUUERITRILU{N}I{D}U{N}OCA | TI
Expansion:
TURPILLI IC IACIT PUUERI TRILUNI DUNOCATI
Westwood/1847 73 concise discussion
Westwood/1876 73--74 concise discussion
Macalister, R.A.S. (1945):CIT | TVRPILLIICIA | PVVERITRILV{N}I{D}U{N}OCA | TI
Expansion:
TVRPILLI IC IACIT PVVERI TRILVNI DUNOCATI
Translation:
The resting place of Turpillius (PN), the boy (= attendant) of Trilunos (PN), (son) of Dunocatus (PN).
Macalister/1945 314--315 concise discussion
Nash-Williams, V.E. (1950):CIT | TVRPILLIICIA | PVVERITRILV{N}I{D}V{N}OCA | TI
Expansion:
TVRPILLI (h)IC IACIT PVVERI TRILVNI DVNOCATI
Translation:
(The stone) of Turpillius (PN). He lies here, son of Trilunus Dunocatus (PN).
Nash-Williams/1950 69 reading only

Notes

Orientation:vertical down
Position:inc ; broad ; n/a ; undecorated
Nash-Williams/1950, 69: `The Latin inscription is in four lines (with 1. 2 superimposed above the end of 1. 1) reading vertically downwards'.
Incision:inc
Macalister/1945, 314: `well cut, not pocked'.
Nash-Williams/1950, 69: `fairly deeply and coarsely picked'.
Date:500 - 599 (Nash-Williams/1950)

500 - 566 (Jackson/1953)
Jackson/1953, 184.
Language:Latin (rcaps)
Ling. Notes:Westwood/1876, 74: `The first word in the second line I take to be intended for Pueri, used instead of filii, a most unusual formula, each of the three words in the first line also affording a grammatical error; the first name being a nominative but with a genitive termination, the second word without the commencing H, and the third word with an I instead of E'.

Macalister/1945, 315: `IC-IACIT has here and frequently elsewhere to be construed as a noun-substantive, in association with the genitive depending upon it'.

Palaeography:Westwood/1876, 74: `With the exception of the d in the second line, which is of the minuscule form, and the long-tailed p's, the whole is written in tolerably good Roman capitals'.

Macalister/1945, 315: `The initial of the last word [DUNOCATI] is the only half-uncial letter in the inscription'.

Nash-Williams/1950, 69: `Roman capitals, fairly deeply and coarsely picked, with half-uncial D. The D and the N's are reversed'.

Legibility:good
Westwood/1876, 73: `The inscription is to be read, without the slightest difficulty as to any of the letters'.

Macalister/1945, 314: `they are much weathered...[but the] inscription reads without a doubt'.

Lines:4
Carving errors:y
Doubtful:no

Names

References