| Corpus Refs: | Huebner/1876:115 Macalister/1945:354 Nash-Williams/1950:126 |
| Site: | PBRYN |
| Discovery: | first mentioned, 1695 Lhuyd, E. |
| History: | Westwood/1879, 146: `This stone was first noticed by Edward Lhwyd (Gibson's Camden, p. 648, and ii. p. 42; Gough's Camden, iii. p. 160), and was also subsequently engraved by Meyrick. ... From information received by me from H. Jenkins, Esq., and the Rev. John Hughes, Vicar of Penbryn, it appears that this stone formerly rested on the side of an artificial mound of stones in a field not far from the church of Penbryn, called Parc Carreg y Lluniau, on the Dyffryn Bern estate. On removing the tumulus (of which no trace now remains) an urn was found buried, but it was not ascertained what were its contents. The stone was afterwards set up in its present erect position as a rubbing-post for the cattle...It was visited by the members of the Cambrian Archaeological Association during the Cardigan Meeting, and was subsequently published by the Rev. H. L. Jones (Arch. Camb., 1861, p. 306)'. Macalister/1945, 339: `In Lhuyd's time this monument stood on a heap of stones which were cleared away, according to Meyrick, two years before he wrote (i.e., about 1806), when some silver coins and an urn containing ashes were found. He tells us nothing about the nature of the coins found in such curious combination'. Nash-Williams/1950, 102: `The stone was first recorded in the 1695 edition of Gibson's Camden, where it is vaguely referred to as `a rude stone in Penbryn parish, not far from the Church'. Later references describe the stone as lying against a `heap of stones' (cairn?) on or near its present position on the summit of a saddle-backed field formerly known as `Parc Carreg y Lluniau'. Removal of the heap of stones[4] carried out about 1804 as a preliminary to re-erecting the stone brought to light `an urn full of ashes, as well as a few bronze, silver and gold Roman coins of the time of Vespasian, which were presented...to Colchester Museum,[5] with the exception of a gold Vespasian'...The `urn', a small grey-ware olla of late 1st- or early-2nd century A.D. type, and the `gold Vespasian', actually an aureus of Titus (A.D. 79-8I), are now preserved in the National Museum of Wales (Accession Nos. 05-176 and 29.433/2). [4] Another account (in AC, 1862, p. 216) speaks of the removal of a 'windmill...in a very dilapidated condition'.
[5] Mr. M. R. Hull, the Curator of the Colchester Castle Museum, kindly informs me that his registers show no record of the coins alleged to have been presented to that Museum'. |
| Geology: | |
| Dimensions: | 1.52 x 0.76 x 0.36 (converted from Macalister/1945) |
| Setting: | in ground |
| Location: | earliest |
| Form: | plain Westwood/1879, 146: `The stone is nearly 5 feet high and 21 inches wide'. Nash-Williams/1950, 102: `Rough pillar-stone. 57+" h. x 24--30" w. x 26" t.'. |
| Condition: | complete , good The stone appears to be in good condition. |
| Folklore: | none |
| Crosses: | none |
| Decorations: | no other decoration |
| Westwood, J.O. (1876): | CORBALENGIIACIT | ORDOVS Expansion: CORBALENGI IACIT ORDOVS Westwood/1876 146 reading only |
| Rhys, J. (1905): | CORBALENGIIACIT | ORDOVS Expansion: CORBALENGI IACIT ORDOVS Translation: Here Corbaleng (PN) the Ordovician lies. Rhys/1905 70 reading only |
| Macalister, R.A.S. (1945): | CORBALENGIIACIT | ORDOVS Expansion: CORBALENGI IACIT ORDOVS Translation: The Lair of Corbalengus(PN) (who was) an Ordovician. Macalister/1945 339 reading only |
| Nash-Williams, V.E. (1950): | CORBALENGIIACIT | ORDOVS Expansion: CORBALENGI IACIT ORDOVS Translation: (The stone) of Corbalengus(PN). (Here) he lies, an Ordovician. Nash-Williams/1950 102 reading only |
| Orientation: | vertical down |
| Position: | inc ; broad ; n/a ; undecorated Nash-Williams/1950, 192: `Latin inscription in two lines reading vertically downwards'. Macalister/1945, 338, provides a drawing which has the inscription running the wrong way (cf. Nash-Williams/1950, Plate IX). |
| Incision: | inc Macalister/1945, 339: `chiselled'. Nash-Williams/1950, 102: `deeply cut'. |
| Date: | 400 - 533 (Nash-Williams/1950) 400 - 499 (Jackson/1953) |
| Language: | Latin (rcaps) |
| Ling. Notes: | Westwood/1876, 146: `they contain the common false Latinity of jacit. Edward Lhwyd in his reading separates the syllable COR from the succeeding letters, and translates it `the heart of Bahenci'. Some of our members when they visited the stone took it as an abbreviation for Corpus; but judging from analogy we are inclined to look upon the first four syllables as making up only one word, the name of the deceased, apparently in the genitive case, and the whole inscription as divided into three words...The last word, ORDOUS, has occasioned much difficulty. It was considered by Edward Lhwyd to be an abbreviation for Ordovicus, showing that it was carved by men of South Wales who had welcomed one from the North, and had considered his origin worthy of note when they put over him this stone of honour. This suggestion confirms the great age of the inscription, since, as H. L. Jones suggests, this Romanised name of a British tribe could not have remained in use among ecclesiastics who no doubt cut the stone long after the termination of the Roman power'. Rhys/1905, 70--71, discusses the text in terms of its metre. Macalister/1945, 339: `The nearest reasonable approach to a translation would be by an adaptation of the formula sometimes seen on Scottish tombstones, `The Lair of Corbalengus (who was) an Ordovician''. Nash-Williams/1950, 102: `Ordous in l. 2 denotes a member of the tribe of Ordovices, which in Roman times occupied the region of north-central Wales.[3] Corbalengus was thus a N. Walian who had presumably settled in Cardiganshire and died there. The inscription is important as showing that the tribal divisions of pre-Roman and Roman Wales still subsisted in the sub-Roman period (cf. Nos. 87, 103). [3] Ptolemy, Geographia, ii. 3. 18. Cf. Tacitus, Annals, xii. 33, and Agricola, 18; 0.S. Map of Roman Britain. Rhys (in C[eltic] B[ritain], p. 299 [Rhys/1882b]) notes that the name is preserved in local place-names in the Snowdonia district (e.g. Rhyd Orddwy, Dinorddwig, &c.)'. |
| Palaeography: | Westwood/1879, 146: `published by the Rev. H. L. Jones (Arch. Camb., 1861, p. 306), who observes that the letters are of the same style and probably of the same date as those on the stone at St. Dogmael's. None of them are conjoined together; none are minuscule; they are tolerably regular; they are not peculiarly debased'. Macalister/1945, 339: `Roman capitals'. Nash-Williams/1950, 102: `Roman capitals, deeply cut, in good style'. |
| Legibility: | good Macalister/1945, 339: ` in good condition'. |
| Lines: | 2 |
| Carving errors: | 0 |
| Doubtful: | no |
Rhys/1905, 70--71: `I take Corbalengi to stand for the nominative Corbalengi-s, for which we have the analogy of Irish Dunlaing or Dunling `Dowling', genitive Dunlinge (also Dunlangi, later declension Dunlang, genitive Dunlaing): see Stoke's Patrick, pp. 184, 308, 331, 342, 446'.
Jackson/1953, 645, sees the name as British and argues that the composition vowel in -a- is for -o-.