Sculptured stones are carved stone monuments from the early Christian period excavated in various parts of the British Isles and Scandinavia. They document the conversion of these areas to Christianity. They are usually rough-hewn slabs or boulders, and may be standing upright or lying down. Many have runic or lettered inscriptions on them that are in Ogham, Scandinavian runes (Old Norse), or Latin. Some are crosses with Celtic knots and other interlacing patterns. Many resemble those found on Celtic scriptures of the Gospels. Sculptured stones are usually found near ancient ecclesiastical sites, and their date is approximately fixed according to the character of the ornamentation. The stones date from the 26th century BCE to the 16th century CE.
Wales Many of the inscribed stones in Wales are found near churches. Most of the stones have been dated to the period between the time of the Romans leaving Britain and the arrival of the Normans. They serve as records of Wales’ conversion to the Christian church. Some of the inscriptions are runic or lettered; a variety of Latin and Ogham inscriptions survive, with some being bilingual. Others were decorated crosses. Some of the monuments were first discovered in the Victorian era by Edward Lhuyd, when many medieval buildings were knocked down and new ones built on top of them. Some were in walls while others were found in the foundations (which were often re-used by the Victorians for their new buildings). There are various theories as to the stones' purpose. Victor Erle Nash-Williams has suggested the stones were memorials and gravestones. Nancy Edwards theorized the stones functioned as property ownership boundary markers. There is also evidence that the sculptured stones were reused to build churches; others were still used as grave markers but for a different person's grave. For example, an inscribed stone from Penbryn located near a cairn describes a grave of an Irish man, but when the cairn was later excavated, a Roman urn was found in it instead of the remains of the Irish man mentioned on the stone. More sites with stones were repurposed by invading Anglo-Saxons to claim the land as theirs. Edwards suggests the later settlers may have believed the original graves were those of their ancestors, and felt a claim to the land. Stones have been found on the edges of Roman roads, perhaps marking boundaries. There were two clusters of stones focused on. One was in northwest Wales, which had more Latin inscriptions and were either of "Group II" or "Group III"—the grouping of which was created by Nash-Williams. Group II stones are those with crosses on them and more closely associated with churches and church cemeteries, but not monastic sites. Group III stones are crosses and cross slab stones that are found near monasteries. The other cluster was in the southwest and had more ogham and bilingual inscriptions. This may be because there were more Irish settlements in the area, including the Kingdom of Dyfed, which was once occupied by the Irish until the fifth century. These stones were Group I, which are mainly just inscriptions and associated with both burial sites and churchyards and may have indicated boundaries and land ownerships. In Glamorgan, a possible stone was discovered when the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust was excavating a Bronze-age settlement on peninsula near the River Severn. It was found in a pit in ten fragments, and some pieces were scorched. The archaeologists believed that its last use was a baking plate, as some charcoaled substances were found on top of it. On the smooth side of the stone near the middle, some incisions in the surface looked like runes of Anglo-Saxon or Scandinavian origin. On the edges, more incisions were found, which looked closer to ogham runes; if so, this would make it a rare example of a bilingual stone. (There are three known bilingual stones, one in Ireland and two on the Isle of Man.) However, the ogham inscriptions do not make linguistic sense, and may be pseudo-ogham runes. The uncertainty over the inscription makes it hard to date the stones accurately.
Anglesey The stones located on Anglesey, the large western Welsh island, have a decidedly Scandinavian appearance and have been dated to the Viking Age (10th–12th centuries). There are more than forty different pieces: thirteen of these are standing stones and over twenty are cross-carved stones. There are only thirteen memorial stones from the fifth through seventh centuries. Two of these stones are free-standing crosses, found in Penmon. They were carved in the ring-chain style associated with the Viking Borre style . One has the Temptation of St Anthony carved into it with horsemen and animals. Another has also the ring-chain and has abstract patterning and frets, or key patterns. Both stones are made from limestone with a red staining that comes from a still active quarry nearby. Stones made from limestone from this quarry and with the same red stain can be found as far away as Bardsey Island and mainland Wales. Other notable stones on Anglesey include a large cross-carved stone in Llanfihangel Tre’r Beirdd in Twrcelyn, and a ringed cross head carved with interlace found in Llangaffo. These stones are also limestone, but do not come from quarries in Penmon since they lack the red stain.
Scotland
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