MTDFL/1

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'.

References


Inscriptions


MTDFL/1/1     Pictures

Readings

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

Notes

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

Names

References