Mail Description of stone
Event ID 1014907
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Early Medieval Carved Stones Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1014907
Mail 2 (St Columba/St Paul), Cunningsburgh, Shetland, ogham-inscribed fragment
Measurements: 0.32m by 0.19m, D 0.07m
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: HU 4330 2790
Present location: National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh (IB.115)
Evidence for discovery: found in 1874 or 1875 ‘close-by the burial-ground’ at Mail. It was presented to the museum in Edinburgh in 1883.
Present condition: one edge is broken but the ogham letters are clear.
Description
This triangular fragment is incised with ogham letters along one broad face continuing over to one narrow face, and a second partial inscription on another narrow face. Forsyth suggests that the letter forms may indicate an earlier date compared to the other two fragments of ogham inscriptions from the vicinity (Mail 3 and South Voxter).
Date: seventh or eighth century.
References: Forsyth 1996, (Cunningsburgh 2) 213-19, 225-6; Scott & Ritchie 2009, no 51.
Compiled by A Ritchie 2016
