What is this stone

Dug up from a pond near a disused abbey in UK. Anybody got any ideas?

 

I don't really know what that is, but a couple of search terms you could try to use:

ancient cup marks (primitive cup marks, etc)
ancient cup and ring marks

Could be utilitarian or purely decorative. Maybe someone will come along and have a better idea.

 

It's from the 1st annual UK Film Festival....

BUT...... since no one had screens or projectors back then.....it was a flop....
and all the marketing was thrown in the pond !!!

Just sayin.....it could have been !!

 

Maybe some sort of sacrificial bloodletting stone!!!!! Don't mind me....I'm in the middle of a Witch-y and Vampire book

 

It doesn't seem we are being very helpful here.
You might have better luck contacting the local historical society or archaeological department, which might have some insight based on the history of the local abbey. A medieval art historian might recognize the symbolism of the circles within the circle.
It looks like there might be some writing pecked into the top of the stone, but the photo is not clear enough to make it out. If there is, it does not seem to be the same quality as the carved circles, which might indicate it was reused at least once before being thrown into the pond.

 

gravestone? the drilled/chipped area, above what looks a little like a celtic cross in the negative, looks like letters were inscribed.

 

https://www.worldwidewriter.co.uk/manx-crosses-runes-oghams-early-history-isle-man.html
maybe something to investigate: Manx crosses

 

I just randomly connected the dots of the blue lines, thinking they looked like a logical grouping. Looks rather runic. So I took a wild goose chase on that hunch ...



I then saw the above chart, and if you read them it would mean "gift is wealth".... just a freak coincidence probably. If it is a manx runestone... the cross is always at the top.

The Manx runestones were made by the Norse population on the Isle of Man during the Viking Age, mostly in the 10th century.


http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/fulltext/mc1907/p038.htm

You never know... definitely worth taking to the archeological community as @2manybooks suggests.

 

Leeds, if that's where it was found, isn't exactly on the coast or on the Viking manx stone map... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manx_runestones#/media/File:Kingdom_of_Mann_and_the_Isles-en.svg

They made it to the Isle of Man, so, you never know.

 

Well, lookie that... 10th Century England... Leeds was Norse.

The Danelaw originated from the Viking expansion of the 9th century, although the term was not used to describe a geographic area until the 11th century. With the increase in population and productivity in Scandinavia, Viking warriors, having sought treasure and glory in the nearby British Isles, "proceeded to plough and support themselves", in the words of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 876.

So, a Manx stone is possible.

Very curious.

 

hmm, interesting. Whilst not found in Leeds, was not too far away and could still come under the Danelaw. As I say, interesting and more likely than the film festival idea, though I liked that too.

 

@Sepia, can you confirm that there is writing of some sort on the stone? If so, can you provide a better photo (and select to display it full size)? Is there anything on the reverse?
If the design is meant to be a cross it is unusually stylized, or unfinished. Although it does bear some resemblance to the Nevern cross in Wales (late 10th - early 11th century), as well as some other early "ringed crosses":

http://www.castlewales.com/nevern_cross.html

Aberlemno Pictish cross.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberlemno_Sculptured_Stones

 

Interesting, Sepia.
It certainly looks like an early Christian stone. The symbols at the top could be stonemason's symbols, maybe? The one in the centre looks like a heart.

 

If it was found in the Danelaw, it is unlikely to be Celtic or Pictish, different cultures.

 

As it was the Irish form of Christianity that brought Christianity back to Britain after the Anglo Saxon and Viking invasions, the "Celtic" cross, or ring cross, is a common form of cross found in various locations in the British Isles during this early period. The Manx stones that @Dawnno cites are also based on Celtic crosses, even though of Viking origin.

 

I don't actually have the stone, I was asking for a friend who sent me the photo. I'll try and get better but no promises as he is more of a computer dunce than I am. As ti whether there is writing on the stone, I'm afraid your guess is as good as mine - possibly better - as I am also just going by the photo.

 

Christianity was re-introduced during the Roman 'Gregorian Mission' in the late 6th century. It was led by st Augustine, a Roman prior, who became the first archbishop of Canterbury.
The Danes were already Christian long before the 10th century, when this stone was made.The Danelaw was Danish, hence the name.
Yes, there was also an Irish contingent in the re-introduction, but they lost what power they had during the synod of Whitby in 664.

I know the crosses you showed very well, have seen them myself. I visited Aberlemno on several occasions, because it is one of the few sites with Pictish crosses in a country full of Celtic crosses. From my knowledge of the Pictish culture it is even considered distinct from the Celtic culture, and the Danish culture of course, and presented as such not only in Aberlemno, but also in Scottish museums.

The ring cross does occur across Europe from the British Isles to as far east as Armenia and Georgia. And northern European cultures of the period had related imagery and decorations, just like they did later on. But imo the fact remains that a Danish cross is not a Celtic cross, nor is it a Pictish cross.

 

The Gregorian mission to the south of England was in 596. Saint Columba, from the Irish church, came to Scotland in 563, founding an abbey on Iona. The monastery of Lindisfarne, on the opposite coast, was founded by the Irish Saint Aidan c. 634, and Irish Christiantity became the dominant form in Scotland and northern England, reaching as far south as Mercia. The 664 synod in Whitby, Northumbria, was held to create uniformity in the church practices between the southern Roman version and the northern Irish version.
The history of British Christianity aside, in my opinion the op's stone does not represent a cross - as I said it is unusually simplistic (I provided the other crosses by way of comparison). As we do not know the date of the op's stone, it becomes even more problematic to try to place it stylistically or culturally.

 

Unfortunately the Irish mission was not relevant anymore in the 10th century, as i tried to explain. Celtic imagery did remain in Celtic regions, but the Danelaw was Danish. The Danes were Christianized by Northumbrian Willebrord, btw, but Willebrord was not an artistic type. I know, my region was re-christianized by Willebrord as well.

Exactly, but you said before:

And it seemed like you suggested the Irish-Celtic mission was of importance to the Danelaw.