The Liddesdale Stone

Liddesdale, The Liddesdale Stone, Roxburghshire, Latin inscribed stone

Measurements: H 1.73m, W 0.53m, D 0.28m

Stone type: sandstone

Place of discovery: NY 4968 8901

Present location: National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh.

Evidence for discovery: found in August 1933 in the Liddel Water ‘a few yards below’ its junction with the Ralton Burn, on the west side of the Water. It is thought to have come from a field wall which was washed away by heavy flooding some years previously.

Present condition: good.

Description

This tapering stone was presumably once upright not far from where it was found. It is incised with a three-line Latin inscription running up the stone towards the taper, which reads: HIC IACIT CARANTI FIL[I] CUPITIANI, ‘here lies Carantus son of Cupitianus’.

Date: sixth or seventh century.

References: Macdonald 1936, 33-5.

Compiled by A Ritchie 2016

NY48NE 13 4810 8900.

(NY 4910 8900) The Liddesdale Stone (NR) (Site of)

OS 6" map (1957)

An Early Christian gravestone, now in the NMAS, was found in August 1933 in the bed of the Liddel Water just below the inflow of the Ralton Burn. It had apparently been built into a drystone dyke standing on the river bank which had collapsed into the water after recent flooding. It is a block of sandstone with maximum dimensions of 5 ft 8 ins, 1 ft 9 ins and 11 ins, bearing an inscription reading "HIC IACIT / CARANTI FIL(I) / CVPITIANI". It is dated by the RCAHMS to the 5th or early 6th century, while Thomas suggests a 6th or 7th century date.

RCAHMS 1956; G Macdonald 1936; A C Thomas 1971

No further information.

Visited by OS (TRG) 2 July 1979