New information on the ‘Silian 3’ stone!

Professor David Austin, of the University of Wales TSD, Lampeter, chats to local people about the probable origins and evolution of the church site

On Friday 7 June news was received from Siân Iles, of the National Museum of Wales, to whom an enquiry had been submitted regarding the provenance of the cast and photograph of ‘Silian 3’. Both were noted by Professor Edwards in A Corpus of Early Medieval Inscribed Stones and Stone Sculpture in Wales.  Siân confirmed that the museum has the cast in its collection, and stated that it is likely to have been made by W. Clarke of Llandaff, prior to World War I. From 1894 the Cardiff Museum and Art Gallery (later the National Museum of Wales) undertook a programme of commissioning plaster casts of pre-Norman stones in Wales, in order to create a national reference collection. The programme was brought to an end by the outbreak of war in 1914.

A photograph of the ‘Silian 3’ cast is referred to as such in the National Museum’s catalogue. Also in the picture are the casts of two stones from Cynwyl Gaeo, which are known to have been made by W. Clarke in 1914. It can therefore be inferred that the ‘Silian 3’ cast probably also dates from that time, and ended up in the stream sometime afterwards. It seems that no one currently living in the village knew of its existence until now.

The ‘Silian 3’ stone is one of three medieval stones belonging to the church site. It will be permanently housed at St Sulien’s Church, whose parishioners intend to apply for funding to display ‘Silian 3’ and ‘Silian 2’, both of which are thought to date to the ninth-tenth century. ‘Silian 1’, whose inscription dates to the fifth-sixth century, is built into the church’s external south wall. There is considerable local and archaeological interest in the origins and evolution of the early church site at Silian. All three stones add to the narrative of the site, and local people now hope to disseminate this narrative using leaflets or an information plaque.


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A Corpus of Early Medieval Inscribed Stones and Stone Sculpture in Wales, Volume lll: North Wales

Published by University of Wales Press, April 2013.

By Nancy Edwards

This volume, the final of three, focuses on the inscribed stones and stone sculpture of North Wales c. AD 400-1150. It provides fresh insights and new interpretations of over 150 monuments, many of which have been found since V. E. Nash-Williams's Early Christian Monuments of Wales was published in 1950. The introductory discussion analyses the historical and archaeological context of the monuments, earlier research, geology, their form and function, ornament and iconography, and the language and lettering of the inscriptions, as well as their cultural connections, dating and chronology. The well-illustrated catalogue provides more detailed descriptions and analyses of individual monuments.

The Royal Commission has contributed many striking photographs and illustrations. Techniques used to record these stones photographically included night photography using a generator to power studio lights positioned to provide oblique lighting. The illustrative work within the book derives from rubbings produced in the field, which provided an accurate record of each monument including the inscriptions and letter-forms.

The project was led by Professor Nancy Edwards of Bangor University.

Article by: Charles Green, Graphics Officer, Public Engagement Team.


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