Early-Christian inscribed stone near Uphill

Summary

An early-Christian inscribed stone dating to around AD 550, freestanding in a field about 100m to the west of Uphill farmhouse.

Reasons for Designation

An early-Christian inscribed stone located near Uphill, Buckland Monachorum, Devon, which is thought to date to around AD 550, is scheduled for the following principal reasons:

* Survival: despite once being used as an upright to support the roof of a linhay, and more recently as a cattle-rubbing post, the stone and its inscription survive well;
* Potential: the inscription is as an example of early Christian text and language which will inform our understanding of this period, its physical form gives insight into the rituals and practices of commemoration at that time, and it provides evidence of stone-cutting techniques pre-dating 1800;
* Documentation: although a relatively-recent discovery, the inscribed stone has proved an important contribution to our understanding of such monuments and is included in the relevant corpus;
* Rarity: early-Christian inscribed stones are a rare class of monument and are considered to be nationally important;
* Group value: with the farmhouse at Uphill, which is listed at Grade II*.

History

Early-Christian memorial stones are inscribed free-standing stones commemorating named individuals and dating to the early medieval period (around AD 400-1100). The stones are erect, roughly dressed or undressed slabs, bearing incised inscriptions, usually set in one or more vertical lines down one face of the slab, although in four examples the text runs horizontally across the slab. All except two recorded texts are in Latin and, depending on their date, may be inscribed in a script of Romanised capitals or an insular form of lower-case lettering called miniscules, or a mixture of the two. Six stones also have inscriptions in an Irish script called ogham. Most inscriptions are simple, bearing a personal name and often stating a family relationship, such as ‘filii’ (son of), to another personal name. Fourteen stones contain elements of the simple inscriptions within a longer, complex inscriptive formula, often including the phrase ‘hic iacet’ (here lies). Additional decoration is found on very few stones and usually comprises a cross within a circle. Early examples, prior to the eighth century AD, may bear an early-Christian symbol called a Chi Rho monogram, compounding the first two Greek letters of the name `Christ'. Early-Christian memorial stones are largely restricted to areas which retained Celtic traditions during the early medieval period, with at least 139 recorded from Wales. In England, they are almost entirely confined to the south-west peninsula; of the 56 recorded examples, 37 occur in Cornwall, 11 in Devon, a group of 5 in Dorset, and single examples in Somerset, Hampshire and Shropshire. Early-Christian memorial stones are a very rare and diverse class of monument important for our understanding of the social organisation and the development of literacy and Christianity during the early medieval period.

There is no evidence to suggest that the inscribed early-Christian memorial stone at Uphill near Buckland Monachorum has ever been moved nor, if it has, where it was originally located. It stands in a field about 1m south of a grassy track which leads east through the fields from Uphill, a Grade II* listed farmhouse with C16 origins.

The 1845 Tithe map shows a north-facing open-fronted structure in the south-west corner of the field, and the north-east corner of the structure correlates with the position of the inscribed stone. It is therefore likely that the stone was once used as an upright to support the roof of a linhay; wedge cuts at the top of the south face may have been made to support horizontal timber beams. The cuts are of a technique which predate 1800 and so the stone is likely to have been in its current position since before then. The linhay was probably removed before the Second Word War, but the stone remained in position.

The existence of the stone was first known in 1982, when it was drawn to the attention of Pearce (see Sources). A measured survey of the stone was made in 2000.

Details

SUMMARY OF ASSET
An early-Christian inscribed stone dating to around AD 550, freestanding in a field about 100m to the west of Uphill farmhouse.

DESCRIPTION
The inscribed stone survives as an earth-fast brownish granite pillar, roughly rectangular in section. It stands 1.75m high above the ground, with a maximum width of 0.31m and a maximum thickness of 0.37m. Near the top of the south face are two wedge-cuts in the form of half-slots, 0.14m to 0.15m in length.

On the east face of the stone and close to its left-hand edge is a string of letters stretching for over 1m. The text, in Latin, is clearly visible but is deteriorated, particularly near the base. The letters measure between 0.06m and 0.08m in height and read downwards facing left in capital script. The text has been read as DAPANNICI NASC FI where the second ‘I’ is horizontal. This could translate as ‘the stone of Dapannicius, son of Nascus’ but other interpretations are possible, including a reversal of the names.

The inscription is worn due to the stone being used by cattle as a rubbing post. The north-east top corner has been knocked or chiselled off.

Sources

Books and journals
Okasha, E, Corpus of Early Christian Inscribed Stones of South-west Britain, (1993), 79-81
Pearce, SM, Presidential Lecture: Church and Society in South Devon AD 350-700 in Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society, Vol. 40, (1982), 1-18
Greeves, T, The start of history: two inscribed stones from Western Dartmoor in Dartmoor Magazine, Vol. 91, (2008), 8-10

Websites
Heritage Gateway: Devon & Dartmoor Historic Environment Record, accessed 20/06/2023 from https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MDV27785&resourceID=104

Other
Tithe Map and apportionment, Buckland Monachorum parish, 1845
Ordnance Survey, Devon (1885) (1:2500)
RAF Aerial photographs, 1946

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