While tidying the wild garden at his Coventry home, a geography instructor stumbled upon a rock adorned with cryptic cuts. Fascinated, he sent pictures of it to a local archaeologist and was shocked to discover that the inscriptions on the piece were more than 1,600 years old, making the object museum-worthy.
The block of sandstone discovered by Graham Senior bore the ogham inscriptions, which was a script used during the early medieval era primarily for the Irish language.
Before the Irish community began using vellum manuscripts, they utilised the ogham writing system, comprised of parallel line groups etched onto materials like stone. Such seldom found stones provide a glimpse into the Irish language prior to the introduction of the Latin insular script.
Mr Senior, 55, recounted: “As I was cleaning a flower bed of stones and weeds, I noticed this object. I thought, this isn’t natural, not some animal’s markings. It couldn’t have been more than four or five inches beneath the surface.”
He cleaned the object and reached out to a family member who was an archaeologist and advised him to contact the Portable Antiquities Scheme, a body that encourages members of the public to document their archaeological discoveries.
Teresa Gilmore, an archaeologist and findings coordination officer for Staffordshire and the West Midlands, working out of Birmingham Museums, remarked: “This is an astonishing discovery. The Portable Antiquities Scheme is wonderful in that, it aids in discoveries that consistently rewrite our history. This particular discovery has gifted us new understanding of early medieval activity in Coventry that we need to comprehend better. Each discovery like this one aids in forming our puzzle and offering additional information.”
Upon receiving photos from Mr Senior, she instantly recognised its importance. She got in touch with Katherine Forsyth, a professor of Celtic studies at the University of Glasgow, who confirmed that it was an ogham script, most probably dating back to the fifth or sixth century, possibly even as early as the fourth century.
Ms Gilmore asserted that such stones are “scarce and are usually unearthed in Ireland or Scotland…so it’s quite odd to find them in the [English] midlands.”
“She posited a connection between the artefact and either the influx of individuals from Ireland or the presence of early medieval monastic communities in the vicinity. Ms Gilmore explained, “The monasteries would have seen a constant rotation of monks and men of the cloth.”
The 11cm, 139g stone boasts inscriptions on three out of its four faces, prompting Ms Gilmore to speculate that it may have served as a portable memento. “Its precise function, however, continues to elude us,” she confessed, “But it’s undoubtedly quite a remarkable artifact.”
When discussing the inscription etched on it, “Maldumcail/ S/ Lass” she clarified, “Its initial segment is associated with a given name – Mael Dumcail, but the second fragment’s meaning remains nebulous. We suspect the S/ Lass maybe a place reference, possibly translating to ‘had me created’.”
Expressing elation at finding out the item’s importance, Mr Senior shared, “Considering our close proximity to the river Sowe, it is conjectured that it was a key transit avenue.”
The trinket is scheduled for display at Coventry’s Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, courtesy of Mr Senior who has gifted it indefinitely to the institution. The item will take centre stage at the upcoming Collecting Coventry exhibition, starting from May 11th.
Museum curator, Ali Wells, marveled at the discovery, remarking “It’s rather astounding as the script is of Irish origin, making its discovery within Coventry an intriguing conundrum. Coventry, particularly its city centre, has been extensively excavated over the years, making the likelihood of such discoveries limited. This one truly took us by surprise.”