STRPH/1

When the two men saw the pillar it was topped by a curious cross, with faces carved at the end of each arm and a child carved on the top. This cross has now gone, although Keranflec'h published a drawing which shows the stele beside a wooden chapel, topped by a simple cross.

The pillar was mentioned by Dom G.-A. Lobineau in the article on Sainte Trifine in his Les vies des saints de Bretagne. De Fréminville published a rather inaccurate drawing of it in 1837, and the pillar and its inscription were mentioned briefly by Cayot-Délandre in 1847. Keranflec'h gave a description to the Association bretonne at their Quimper congress in 1858 but not a reading. To accompany this article, Keranflec'h's friend Arthur de la Borderie published, in the same proceedings, the relevant passage of the 1670 `History of the abbey of Saint-Gildas de Ruis'. Gaultier du Mottay provided a more detailed description of the stone and its inscription but did not interpret the letters he saw. Le Mené's 1888 illustration of what he called `Saint Trémeur's column' represents the lettering very clearly; however, the depiction of the stone in isolation in open countryside appears to be artistic licence, particularly in view of the earlier illustration showing the stone beside the chapel.

Meanwhile Keranflec'h had visited the stone at just the right moment for oblique light to strike the carving and he was able to make the reading which had eluded him before. A few days later he presented a tracing from his rubbing to the Croisic congress of the Association bretonne (1888: 146 and pl. viii). A decade later Seymour de Ricci published his own reading of the inscription, his accurate reading of the second line allowing him to make the link with Michael.

In the 20th century scholarly interest in Sainte-Tréphine has tended to focus on the chapel beside the pillar and its contents. However, Gildas Bernier considered the inscription and appears to be the first to have noticed the incised cross, since it does not feature in any previous drawings or descriptions.

The site was visited by members of the CISP team in May 1997, October 1998, and June 1999'.

At 130cm above current ground level, the north-west face measures about 90cm wide, the south-west about 72cm, the south-east about 74cm, and the north-east about 61cm. The most distinctive feature of this grey granite pillar consists of seventeen massive ribs which run from top to bottom, five on the north-west face, four on the other sides. The outer surfaces of these ribs are flat and vary 5-6cm in width. The furrow of each rib is gently curved, varying between 7 and 10cm in width at the surface and being about 2cm in maximum depth. The carving is regular and very precise'.

Davies et al/2000, 166: `A large incised cross runs for most of the length of the south-west (front) face, utilizing the pre-existing ribs in its design; as a consequence it is very hard to discern. The design consists of an equal-armed cross (croix pattée) 40cm high with a span of about 37cm (the width of one furrow and two ribs); it sits on top of a long shaft (143cm), having the width of one furrow (8cm). The end of the shaft flares out to the middle of the two neighbouring ribs, giving it a total width at this point of 17cm. Parallel expansions of similar proportions occur at the end of each cross arm. This is a formal and elegant composition. The total length of the cross is therefore about 183cm: it begins 38cm above current ground level and extends to approximately 46cm below the summit'.