The oldest Genealogical Memorial in Britain?

+10 votes
233 views
The Pillar of Eliseg, near Llangollen in North Wales, had latin inscriptions which were recorded many years ago. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Pillar_of_Eliseg%2C_Denbighshire

It was erected by Cyngen ap Cadell, who died in 855, so it is getting towards 1200 years old.

Various sources have described it as dating from Viking times, which is true only in date terms. There is no evidence that the Viking incursions from Ireland went this far inland. This is a Brythonic memorial relating to the Ancient Kingdom of Powys.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Kingdom_of_Powys
WikiTree profile: Cyngen ap Cadell
in The Tree House by Steve Bartlett G2G6 Mach 7 (77.2k points)

2 Answers

+3 votes

Thanks for telling us about this, Steve.  I've never heard of it.  I went to Wikipedia to read about it and really liked the image of the 1809 'postcard' as well as reading the loose translation of the inscription.

According to this 2011 BBC article, the pillar was once a large cross.

by Darlene Athey-Hill G2G6 Pilot (536k points)
Glad you liked it Darlene. Many people have presumed that it was once a cross like Pictish crosses in Scotland, but there is no evidence that I have found. Let's face it, if one wants to believe it was once a cross, fair enough, or if one wants to regard it more as a memorial stone then one takes one's pick. Me, I sway towards the latter, although the Abbey built some three centuries later is called Valle Crucis, in Welsh Abaty Glyn y Groes (Valley of the Cross) https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Valle_Crucis_Abbey%2C_Denbighshire which suggests that those building the abbey regarded the monument as a cross, regardless.

Well, it's such an amazing piece.  We have to be thankful that Edward Lhuyd examined the Pillar and copied the inscription in 1696 and his transcription survived.  That unto itself is impressive!  And I'm glad that you took the time to share it here on Wikitree.  As fun as it is chasing down ancestors, it's nice to take a break and learn of a remaining piece of their history.  I spent a month about 15 years ago reading about many of the castle remains in England and Ireland and put together a document for my personal enjoyment.

+5 votes

Are there no Roman era "genealogical memorials" in Britain?

For instance, according to [https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5342&context=etd The Roman Riders: Ethnicity and Iconography on Roman Cavalrymen Tombstones by Jessica Colleen Kramer Brigham Young University - Provo]    there are a large number of first century CE Roman Cavalry memorials in Britain, which indicate at least the name of the deceased and his father.

Also  [https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/40153/was-there-significant-interbreeding-between-romans-and-native-britons ] says:

"In terms of contemporary sources, obviously we have the funerary inscriptions, which often mention wives and children. Where names of wives are preserved they are often "Celtic", rather than Latin, and the assumption is that they were Britons. Occasionally, even the wife's tribal association may be recorded, and in these cases we are able to state with certainty that the wife was British."

by Janet Gunn G2G6 Pilot (157k points)
edited by Janet Gunn

Thanks, Janet.

You are, of course, right. As Jessica Kramer says on page 29 of her dissertation:-

Typically the inscription would begin with Dis Manibus or DM, which translated means, “to the spirits of the departed.”78 This would be followed by the name of the soldier, then his father’s name. 

This gives one generation. 

I took the view that if someone in the future were to find my memorial with "Steve Bartlett son of Wilf Bartlett" it would at the very minimal limit of what would be regarded as a genealogical memorial.

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