| Corpus Refs: | Huebner/1876:117 Macalister/1945:355 Nash-Williams/1950:128 |
| Site: | SLIAN |
| Discovery: | first mentioned, 1873 Rhys, J. |
| History: | Rhys/1873, 4: `August 6. --...we went by rail to Bettws Station, whence we walked to Silian. There, not to mention the well-known stone in the churchyard...we found a cross-inscribed stone built into the wall of the church'. Westwood/1876, 137: `Several rubbings of this stone were placed in my hands by the late Rev. H. L. Jones without any note of its locality, and it was published by myself in the Archaeologia Cambrensis, 1876, p. 196. In August, 1878, the church of Silian was visited by the members of the Cambrian Archaeological Association during the Lampeter meeting, when the stone was found built into the outside of the south wall of the recently restored church near its south-west angle'. Macalister/1945, 339: `built into the outer face of the S. wall of the parish church, near the W. end'. Thomas/WG/1994, 414: `The stone is now incorporated into the external south face of the church near the SW angle; this part of the fabric is older than the restoration in 1873'. |
| Geology: | Macalister/1945, 339: `conglomerate'. |
| Dimensions: | 0.89 x 0.2 x 0.0 (converted from Macalister/1945) |
| Setting: | in struct |
| Location: | earliest Thomas/WG/1994, 414: `The stone is now incorporated into the external south face of the church near the SW angle'. |
| Form: | cross-marked Rhys/1873, 4: `the shaft of the cross extending right through the middle of the letters B and A and showing I think, that the stone originally stood upright; it is placed horizontally, of course, in a wall, and is probably only a fragment'. Westwood/1876, 137: `The stone is 22 inches long and 8 inches wide'. Macalister/1945, 339: `A block'. Nash-Williams/1950, 104: `Rough pillar-stone. 35" h. x 8" w. x ?" t.'. Thomas/WG/1994, 414: `A squared pillar stone'. |
| Condition: | complete , some |
| Folklore: | none |
| Crosses: | 1: equal-armed; linear; straight; expanded; plain; none; none; none; n/a |
| Decorations: | Westwood/1879, 137: `an incised cross of the Latin form has been cut through the first and second letters, evidently subsequently to the date of the inscription; there is also a narrow stroke seen through the upper limb of the cross, which may be (and I believe is) simply a flaw in the stone'. Nash-Williams/1950, 104: `(b) Incised linear-cross with the upper terminals slightly clubbed (Fig. 6, 10). The cross has been scored through the first five letters of the inscription'. |
| Rhys, J. (1873): | BANDVSIACIT Expansion: BANDVS IACIT Rhys/1873 4 reading only |
| Westwood, J.O. (1876): | BANDVSIACIT Expansion: BANDVS IACIT Westwood/1876 137 reading only |
| Macalister, R.A.S. (1945): | SILBANDVSIACIT | [...] Expansion: SILBANDVS IACIT [HIC] Macalister/1945 340 reading only |
| Nash-Williams, V.E. (1950): | SILBANDVSIACIT Expansion: SILBANDVS IACIT Translation: Silbandus (PN) lies (here). Nash-Williams/1950 104 reading only |
| Orientation: | vertical down |
| Position: | n/a ; ind ; other ; undivided Nash-Williams/1950, 104: `(a) The Latin inscription is in one line reading vertically downwards'. |
| Incision: | inc Macalister/1945, 340: `pocked'. Nash-Williams/1950, 104: `fairly thinly incised'. |
| Date: | 400 - 533 (Nash-Williams/1950) 500 - 533 (Jackson/1953) |
| Language: | Latin (rcaps) |
| Ling. Notes: | none |
| Palaeography: | Westwood/1876, 137: `the letters varying from 3 to 2 inches in height. They are Roman capitals, the first stroke of the second letter A being nearly upright, whilst the bottom of the second stroke of the same letter is conjoined with the base of the first stroke of the next letter N. The S is of a rather unusual shape, more like an Anglo-Saxon {?}, the upper part short and nearly horizontal, and not extended to the left. In Hübner's `Inscriptiones', p. 41, No. 117, the stone is represented, but the last two letters are erroneously represented as conjoined N'. Macalister/1928, 295--296: `When I find at Egremont...and at Silian in Cardigan...a cross cut right through the inscription so as to deface certain of its characters, I am bound to infer that it has been cut at some later date than the inscription, by some one oblivious of, if not definitely hostile to, the use that his predecessor had made of the stone'. Macalister/1945, 340: `The letters SILB are all cut through by the cross, and the A is injured by it. Of the L, everything is lost except the tip of the horizontal stroke; the cutting of the transom of the cross has removed the rest. In the word HIC, which forms a second line of writing, the H is bearly traceable, the I is cut away by the cross, and the C can be traced, though with difficulty, beneath the B. The surface of the stone is irregular; it rises by a slight step between the N and the D. A crack runs through the second limb of the V'. Nash-Williams/1950, 104: `Roman capitals, fairly thinly incised'. |
| Legibility: | some Westwood/1876, 137: `The inscription is clearly to be read'. Macalister/1945, 340: `injured by masons' spalling, and by subsequent cutting on an equal-armed cross, with expanding ends to the terminals'. |
| Lines: | 1 |
| Carving errors: | 0 |
| Doubtful: | no |