Corpus Refs: | Huebner/1876:57 Macalister/1949:1025 Nash-Williams/1950:248 RCAHMW/1976:862 |
Site: | MTDFL |
Discovery: | first mentioned, 1853 Stephens |
History: | Rhys/1873, 9: `Sept. 1. -- I went to have a look at a stone... which has been built into the wall of Merthyr Parish Church, far too high for me to take a rubbing of it'. Westwood/1879, 5: `In one of the angles of the Church of St. Tydfil (the parish church of Merthyr Tydvil) there is inserted at a considerable distance from the ground an inscribed stone represented in this figure'. Anon/1901, 60: `Built into the east wall of the restored Parish Church -- the position is occupied in the former edifice...no other fragments [of the stone] were discovered during the building of the present church'. Macalister/1949, 163: `A stone...formerly built into the wall of Merthyr Tydfil parish church at a considerable distance from the ground'. RCAHMW/1976, 40: `formerly built into the E. gable wall of St. Tudful's Church'. |
Geology: | Anon/1901, 61: `Old Red Sandstone'. RCAHMW/1976, 40: `of Old Red Sandstone (which occurs a few miles to the N.)'. |
Dimensions: | 1.0 x 0.13 x 0.12 (RCAHMW/1976) |
Setting: | in display |
Location: | on site Macalister/1949, 163: `Now clamped to the wall inside, beside the Annicci stone from Faenor (Abercar)'. Nash-Williams/1950, 157: `Inside church (with No. 41 above), clamped to N. wall of N. aisle near pulpit'. RCAHMW/1976, 40: `The stone, whose earliest recorded location was in the fabric of the church before the rebuilding, is placed against the internal N. wall of the N. Aisle'. |
Form: | cross-marked Anon/1901, 61: `an oblong block...apparently a fragment of a larger one, dressed down to the present dimensions during the building of the former church'. Nash-Williams/1950, 157: `Roughly quadrangular pillar-stone...39" h. x 5" w. x 4 3/4" t.'. RCAHMW/1976, 40: `A pillar-stone...with ring-cross and inscription...The stone...surviving 1.0m long, 13cm wide and 12cm thick'. |
Condition: | frgmntry , some Macalister/1949, 163: `The top is broken off, carrying with it the upper arm of a cross'. Nash-Williams/1950, 157: `top fractured away and the faces apparently trimmed in modern times'. RCAHMW/1976, 40: `The stone...has been reduced in length and width'. |
Folklore: | none |
Crosses: | 1: latin; linear; straight; expanded; plain; none; inner curv; none; n/a |
Decorations: | Westwood/1879, 5: `an ornamented + of the Latin form, placed longitudinally'. Macalister/1949, 163: `a cross with a circular centre and expanding ends. Below is the [inscription]...At the bottom of the inscribed face there are ten parallel grooves, 7" long -- perhaps made by the mason who adapted the stone for building'. Nash-Williams/1950, 157: `Deeply picked linear Latin ring-cross with expanded trifid arm-ends (Fig. 5, 20)'. RCAHMW/1976, 40: `At the head, the simply incised ringed cross has expanded terminals of trifid form at the sides and on the stem, but is incomplete (Fig. 6, n); there seems not to have been an expanded terminal at the head of the ring'. |
Westwood, J.O. (1858): | ARTBEU Expansion: ARTBEU Translation: Artbeu (PN). Westwood/1876 5 reading only |
Rhys, J. (1873): | ARTBEU Expansion: ARTBEU RCAHMW/1976 9 reading only |
Macalister, R.A.S. (1949): | ARTBEU Expansion: ARTBEU Macalister/1949 163 reading only |
Nash-Williams, V.E. (1950): | ARTBEU Expansion: ARTBEU Translation: (The Cross) of Artbeu (PN). Nash-Williams/1950 157 reading only |
RCAHMW (1976): | ARTBEU Expansion: ARTBEU Translation: Artbeu (PN). RCAHMW/1976 40 reading only |
Orientation: | vertical down |
Position: | n/a ; broad ; below cross ; undivided Macalister/1949, 163: `running downward in one line'. Nash-Williams/1950, 157: `Below [the cross], an inscription in one line reading vertically downwards'. |
Incision: | pocked Nash-Williams/1950, 157: `deeply picked'. |
Date: | 700 - 899 (RCAHMW/1976) 600 - 899 (Nash-Williams/1950) 600 - 899 (Anon/1901) |
Language: | name only (rbook) |
Ling. Notes: | none |
Palaeography: | Westwood/1876, 5: `an inscription in rather rudely formed minuscule letters such as are found in Anglo-Saxon and Irish MSS. of the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries. They appear to me to represent the name + artbeu. Respecting the second of these letters, which might be thought the most difficult to be deciphered, I have not the least doubt that it is intended for a r, which in many of our earliest manuscripts has the first stroke elongated below the line, and the second stroke deflexed, sometimes even so much as to resemble a [*]; the fourth letter appears to be a b, and the last a u of unusual form. Although I was unable to make a rubbing of the stone I was enabled to make a clear drawing of it, the letters having been well brought out by the sunlight, and which has since been fully confirmed by the examination of a rubbing made by the Rev. H. L. Jones...The inscription with the cross extends to the length of 24 inches, the average height of the letters being 3 inches'. Anon/1901, 61: `The inscription is in rudely formed Hiberno-Saxon minuscule letters, of the seventh to ninth century'. Nash-Williams/1950, 157: `Round half-uncials'. RCAHMW/1976, 40: `The inscription in regular half-uncials read down the length of the face consists of the one word ARTBEU, the name of the person commemorated'. |
Legibility: | good |
Lines: | 1 |
Carving errors: | 0 |
Doubtful: | no |
Anon/1901, 61: `The name is not found elsewhere in Wales, but occurs in the Cartulaire de Redon in the following forms: Arthbiu, Arthueu, Arthuiu'.