Scheduled Monuments- Full Report
Summary Description of a Scheduled Monument
Reference Number
CN019
Name
Gesail Gyfarch Inscribed Stone
Date of Designation
Status
Designated
Location
Unitary Authority
Gwynedd
Community
Dolbenmaen
Easting
254009
Northing
341709
Broad Class
Religious, Ritual and Funerary
Site Type
Inscribed Stone
Period
Early Medieval
Description
Summary Description and Reason for Designation
The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument.
The monument consists of a stone with an early-medieval inscription on the front. The stone is now 1.7m long, 0.35m down to 0.23m wide and about 0.15m thick, a piece has broken off the top and the left side has been trimmed, probably in the 19th century.
The writing is faint but legible and is confined to what would have been the upper part of the stone when it stood upright. The inscription, in three lines reading vertically down from the top is "FILI CVNALPI / CVNACI IACIT / BECCVRI" and translates as (The stone of) Cunalipus son / Cunacus. He lies here / of Beccurus. There is some doubt about the translation and what can be seen on the stone may be the remains of two independent inscriptions, but its character suggests that it dates to the 6th century.
Since the 1960s the stone has been lying in a protective shelter in the garden of Gesail Gyfarch.
The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of the organisation and practice of religion and commemoration in the medieval period.
The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive.