House garden. I furnished Dr. Bruce with a sketch of it which has been engraved for his second edition of "The Roman Wall."[1] Horsley mentions a stone with the word Templum upon it, but says that it was then broken and destroyed; this is probably the same stone.
In the churchyard the Monolithic Obelisk, or shaft of an ancient cross, is still standing, but remains unexplained. I have recently cleared the inscribed parts from the moss with which they were thickly coated, but have not been able to decypher the characters in a satisfactory manner. The letters appear to be Anglo-Saxon Runes, and much the same as those on the Ruthwell monument in Dumfriesshire. On a fillet on the north side the following letters are very legible. In the year 1685 these characters were somewhat differently read by Bishop Nicholson, and expounded by him to mean, "Rynburn, the burial of the Runæ," or "Ryeburn, Cemeterium, or Cadaverum Sepulchrum." In the year 1742, an article appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine communicated by Mr. Smith, who read it "Kuniburuk, Sepulchrum Regis." As however these interpretations appear to be based on an incorrect copying of the letters, I would suggest another reading. I suppose the second letter to be a Runic Y; and the penultimate letter to be a compound of OU; and I would propose to read Kyneburoug. The word Cyne or Kin of the Saxons was synonymous with nation or people; and the Anglo-Saxon byrig, byrg, burh, burg, buroug, &c., was the generic term for any place, large or small, which was fortified by walls or mounds. The fortifications of the continental Saxons, before their inroads on the Roman Empire, were mere earthworks, for in their half-nomadic state they had neither means nor motive for constructing any other. But their conquest and colonisation of the greater part of Roman Britain put them in possession of a more solid class of fortifications, such as this at Bewcastle. I would suggest, therefore, that these Runes may signify the burgh or fortified town of the nation or people who occupied this district, it is probable that this was in early times a place of some importance. In the reign
- ↑ "Roman Wall," p. 378. We are indebted to the kindness of Dr. Bruce for the use of the woodcut given above. The lower part of an I, it should be observed, may be discerned after the letters I. O. M.
