The
Slaughterbridge Stone.
Circa AD 540 ( Professor Charles Thomas, 1985)
The inscriptions on this stone are around 1500 years old. It was first
written about by Richard Carew when he published '‘The Survey of
Cornwall'’ in 1602 and observed that “ the folke thereabouts
will shew you a stone bearing Arthur’s name…”. Later,
in 1848, the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson stood here and gained inspiration
to write ‘ Idylls of the king’. The Stone is over nine feet
( 274cm) long. Its main inscription is in Latin and there have been many
different interpretations throughout history.Most
recently Okasha ( 1993) reads it as :-
LATINI IACIT FILIUS MA…RI ( The Stone) of Latinus here lies the
son of Ma..ri. or perhaps : ( The body) of Latinus lies here son of Ma..ri.
In 1837 Adam Clarke interpreted it as :
LATIN HIC JACET FILIUS MAGNI ARTURI
( Here lies Latin the son of Arthur the Great).
Interestingly, in 1754, Borlase has also noted that some people considered
the last words to be MAG-URI ( quasi Magni Arthur)!
Most common are those writers such as Maccalister ( 1945) who recorded
:
LATINI IC IACIT FILIUS MACARI
Latinus lies here, the son of macariusLatin
names are common in British inscriptions and are thought to reflect intermarriage
between Irish settlers in the 5th/6th Centuries and the local population
of Celts who had adopted Latin names during the Roman occupation of Britain
which ended in AD410. Jenner in 1912 refers to the 6th Century as the
‘ Age of Saints’ with missionaries from Ireland, in the new
fervour of its conversion by St. Patrick, coming in crowds to Cornwall
and then moving on to Armorica
( Brittany). Western France is still called Cornouaille.This
memorial stone is one of only seven in the South West of the British Isles
which also carries a ‘hidden’ inscription not in Latin but
in an Irish script known as OGHAM. It is this script which dates the Stone
to the 6th Century. The date coincides with the time of Arthur. Ogham
characters are cut into one edge of the Stone like Runic inscriptions.
Unfortunately the text is almost unintelligible but appears to repeat
the name LATINI. Maccalister ( 1945) suggests that Ogham was a ‘
gesture alphabet’ intended for secret communication between druids.
The Ogham letters themselves are represented by groups of strokes cut
against one of the long edges of the Stone. There are a total of 20 characters,
which make up the alphabet.Possibly
the Stone has been cast down from its upright position high above the
river by the Saxon invaders who fought and defeated the Cornish here in
AD 823. It would have been a natural choice for the Celts to have made
their last stand on the hallowed ground of their ‘Once and Future
King’. A memorial Stone to Arthur is not likely to have survived
that defeat without attempts at destruction. ( J.Parsons, 1998).
In
1824 it was written : “ The finger of history points to this spot
as the place in which Arthur, in his last battle, received a wound that
ended his days…that this Stone has every mark of considerable antiquity
no-one doubts…it seems more reasonable to attribute it to the death
of Arthur than to that of any other person, of whom ancient history and
tradition are alike silent…”
( Hitchins and Drew).
In
1837 Adam Clarke interpreted the writing as :-
LATIN
HIC JACET FILIUS MAGNI ARTURI.
( Here lies Latin, the son of Arthur the Great).
And interestingly, in 1754 Borlase had also noted that some people considered
the last words to be MAG-URI ( quasi Magni Arthuri)!
Most
common are those writers such as Maccalister ( 1945) who recorded :-
LATINI
IC IACIT FILIUS MAGARI ( or MACARI)
Latinus lies here, the son of Magarius ( or Macarius).
Latin
names are common in British inscriptions and are thought to reflect intermarriage
between Irish settlers in the 5th/6th centuries and the local population
of Celts who had adopted Latin names during the Roman occupation of Britain
which ended in 410 AD. Jenner in 1912 refers to the 6th C as the “
Age of the Saints” with missionaries from Ireland, in the new fervour
of it’s conversion by St Patrick, coming in crowds to Cornwall and
then moving on to Armorica ( Brittany).
This
memorial Stone is one of only seven in the South West of the British Isles
which also carries a ‘ hidden’ inscription, not in Latin but
in an Irish script known as OGAM. It is this script which dates the Stone
to the 5th/6th century. This date coincides with the time of Arthur.
Ogam
characters are cut into one edge of the Stone like Runic inscriptions.
Unfortunately the text is now too incomplete to be intelligible although
it appears to repeat the name LATINI.
Maccalister ( 1945) suggests that Ogam was a ‘ gesture alphabet’
intended for secret communication between Druids. The Ogam letters themselves
are represented by groups of strokes cut against one of the long edges
of the Stone.
Possibly
the Stone has been cast down from it’s upright position high above
the river by Saxon invaders who fought and defeated the Cornish Celts
on this site in 823 AD. It would have been a natural choice for the Celts
to have made their last stand against the Saxons on the hallowed ground
of their “ Once and Future King”. A memorial Stone to Arthur
is not likely to have survived that defeat without attempts at destruction
( J.P. 1998).
In
1824 it was written :-
“
The finger of history points to this spot as the place in which Arthur,
in his last battle, received a wound that ended his days....That this
Stone has every mark of considerable antiquity about it no-one doubts…
It seems more reasonable to attribute it to the death of Arthur, than
to that of any other person, of whom ancient history and tradition are
alike silent…” ( Hitchins and Drew).
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