| Corpus Refs: | Macalister/1945:459 Okasha/1993:63 |
| Site: | TAWNA |
| Discovery: | first mentioned, 1881 Iago, W. |
| History: | Okasha/1993, 288: `At the 1881 spring meeting of the Royal Institution of Cornwall it was stated: `The Rev. W. Iago then gave a description of a newly-discovered inscribed stone at Cardynham...It is used as a gate post'. In 1895 it was still in use as a gatepost and was described as `Standing in lane leading to Tawna'. In 1929 Macalister described it as `the right-hand gate-post' of `the third gate on the left-hand side of the road leading to Bodmin from Venn cross roads'. It is likely that these descriptions all refer to the same place. The stone was recorded there in 1951, but by 1970 it had been moved to its present position'. |
| Geology: | Macalister/1945, 437: `granite'. |
| Dimensions: | 1.68 x 0.27 x 0.34 (Okasha/1993) |
| Setting: | in ground |
| Location: | inc Okasha/1993, 288: `The stone is at a crossroads about 0.3 km. north-west of Welltown. It is set on a grass bank at the side of the road'. |
| Form: | plain Okasha/1993, 288: `The stone is a pillar stone, probably uncarved'. |
| Condition: | complete , some Okasha/1993, 288: `probably complete, with gatepost markings on each side'. |
| Folklore: | none |
| Crosses: | none |
| Decorations: | no other decoration |
| Macalister, R.A.S. (1945): | O~R{P}E~PSTITUS Expansion: ORATE PRO EPISCOPUS TITUS Macalister/1945 438 reading only |
| Okasha, E. (1985): | [--] Expansion: [--] Okasha/1993 290 reading only |
| Orientation: | vertical up |
| Position: | n/a ; narrow ; n/a ; undecorated Okasha/1993, 288: `The text is incised...on one of the narrow faces, that is thickness, of the stone'. |
| Incision: | pockrub Macalister/1945, 437: `probably pocked and rubbed'. |
| Date: | 400 - 1099 (Okasha/1993) |
| Language: | Latin (ind) |
| Ling. Notes: | Macalister/1945, 437--438, sees it as a Latin inscription with a single name. Okasha/1993, 290, argues that the inscription is illegible. |
| Palaeography: | Macalister/1945, 438: `All in capitals except the E and 2S'. Macalister/1945, 437, also shows a lozenge-shaped O, with contraction mark, another contraction mark over the E, and an R which could easily be classed as half-uncial. Macalister also expands the letter P with an added stroke from the ascender as PRO. Okasha/1993, 288: `uncertain...what script is used'. |
| Legibility: | poor Macalister/1949, 437: `worn'. Okasha/1993, 288: `The text...is now so highly deteriorated as to be virtually illegible'. |
| Lines: | 1 |
| Carving errors: | 0 |
| Doubtful: | no |