Corpus Refs: | Macalister/1945:488 Okasha/1993:60(ii) |
Site: | TVST3 |
Discovery: | recognised, 1834 Bray, E.A. |
History: | Macalister/1945, 467: `Now in the vicarage garden at Tavistock, apparently moved thither by Rev. E. A. Bray, sometime vicar of that parish'. Okasha/1993, 279: `The stone was noticed around 1834 by Bray; it was then in use as a gatepost to a field on Roborough Down near Buckland Monachorum. Bray applied for permission to move the stone to Tavistock vicarage garden but failed: `the farmer was inexorable and it there remains'. Alford recorded that in 1868 Mr Hastings Russell, subsequently the Duke of Bedford, had the stone moved to the vicarage garden, and pace Todd, it has remained there since. The ogham text was first noticed by Ferguson in August 1873'. |
Geology: | Macalister/1945, 468: `grit'. |
Dimensions: | 1.52 x 0.43 x 0.3 (Okasha/1993) |
Setting: | in ground |
Location: | Tavistock Vicarage Garden; NGR NX 481 742 Okasha/1993, 278: `The stone is now in the garden of Tavistock vicarage'. |
Form: | plain Macalister/1945, 468: `A pillar of grit'. Okasha/1993, 278: `The stone is an uncarved pillar-stone, probably complete'. |
Condition: | complete , good Macalister/1945, 468: `two iron staples still remain on the sinister side'. |
Folklore: | none |
Crosses: | none |
Decorations: | other Okasha/1993, 278: `There are no framing-lines or panels except for traces of one incised line at the top of the stone'. |
Macalister, R.A.S. (1945): | ENABARR Expansion: ENABARR Macalister/1945 468 reading only |
Okasha, E. (1986): | [--] Expansion: [--] Okasha/1993 279--280 reading only |
Orientation: | vertical up |
Position: | inc ; arris ; n/a ; other Okasha/1993, 278: `incised vertically on the edge of the stone between the face and the left-hand side'. |
Incision: | inc |
Date: | 400 - 699 (Okasha/1993) Okasha/1993, 280: `The stone belongs to category 1b, pillar-stones with a longer text. Category 1 stones date from the fifth or sixth centuries to the eleventh century. On the evidence of the ogham text, this stone is likely to date from the fifth or sixth century to the eighth. The Primitive Irish name suggests a similar date for the stone and, if FABRI were a Latin name, this would corroborate it. The use of horizontal I is probably also in accordance with such a dating'. |
Language: | name only (ogham) |
Ling. Notes: | Macalister/1945, 468: `Clearly the Ogham is a generation older than the Roman inscription. Dobunnius was the son, and when his time came his epitaph was added to his father's; but Ogham was then falling into disfavour. We have seen something of the same sort at Maenclochog (441)'. |
Palaeography: | Macalister/1945, 468: `There is no trace of a concluding I'. Okasha/1993, 280: `[The text] has always been hard to read and is now illegible. Rhys, for example, saw only `traces of an Ogam inscription'. Nethertheless, various commentators have read on it a name from text (i) [TVST3/1/2], for example Ferguson who said, `the substantial part of the name Enabarr is still traceable'. It is possible that the ogham text originally contained a rendering of a part of the roman text but this is not now demonstrable; theories built upon such a reading must be treated with great caution'. |
Legibility: | poor Okasha/1993, 278: `This text is incomplete and is so highly deteriorated as to be virtually illegible. It is not clear whether it reads upwards or downwards'. Macalister/1945, 468: `now much worn'. |
Lines: | 1 |
Carving errors: | 0 |
Doubtful: | no |
Macalister, R.A.S. (1945): | DOBVNN{I} | FABRIFILII | EN{A}B{A}RRI Expansion: DOBVNNI FABRI FILII ENABARRI Macalister/1945 467--468 reading only Thomas/1994 237, 265 reading only |
Okasha, E. (1984): | DOBVNN{I}[...] | FABRI[F]ILI[I] | [E]N{A}B{A}RRI[.] Expansion: DOBVNNI [--] FABRI [F]ILI[I] [E]NABARRI[.] Translation: [The stone] of Dobunnus (PN) the smith, son of Enabarrus (PN). Okasha/1993 279--280 reading only |
Orientation: | vertical down |
Position: | inc ; broad ; n/a ; other |
Incision: | pocked Macalister/1945, 468: `pocked'. |
Date: | 400 - 799 (Okasha/1993) Okasha/1993, 280: `The stone belongs to category 1b, pillar-stones with a longer text. Category 1 stones date from the fifth or sixth centuries to the eleventh century. On the evidence of the ogham text, this stone is likely to date from the fifth or sixth century to the eighth. The Primitive Irish name suggests a similar date for the stone and, if FABRI were a Latin name, this would corroborate it. The use of horizontal I is probably also in accordance with such a dating'. 533 - 566 (Thomas/1994) |
Language: | Latin (rcaps) |
Ling. Notes: | Okasha/1993, 280: `FABRI could be a Latin personal name, whether as a name or a title, it could refer to either DOBVNNI or to [E]NABARRI'. |
Palaeography: | Okasha/1993, 280: `a predominantly capital script'. Thomas/1994, 265: `angle-bar A's, horizontal I'. |
Legibility: | some Okasha/1993, 278: `The text...is slightly deteriorated'. |
Lines: | 3 |
Carving errors: | 0 |
Doubtful: | no |