The Caratacus Stone, sometimes known as the Caractacus Stone, is an inscribed stone on

Exmoor Exmoor is loosely defined as an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simonsbat ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

, England. It is thought to date from the 6th century, and it has been a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

since 1925. The inscription, in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

, appears to read , though experts have stated that a bar above the second forms a

ligature Ligature may refer to: * Ligature (medicine), a piece of suture used to shut off a blood vessel or other anatomical structure ** Ligature (orthodontic), used in dentistry * Ligature (music), an element of musical notation used especially in the m ...

meaning that it should be read as . It is possible that there was more text on the stone that has weathered away. The inscription, which can be translated as "grandson or immediate descendant of Caratacus", has led to the general opinion that the stone was probably erected as a memorial to a person who claimed the first-century British chieftain

Caratacus Caratacus (Brythonic ''*Caratācos'', Middle Welsh ''Caratawc''; Welsh ''Caradog''; Breton ''Karadeg''; Greek ''Καράτακος''; variants Latin ''Caractacus'', Greek ''Καρτάκης'') was a 1st-century AD British chieftain of the ...

as an ancestor. The first mention of the stone was in 1219, when it was described in a

perambulation Perambulation noun; is the act of walking around, surveying land, or touring. In English law, its historical meaning is to establish the bounds of a municipality by walking around it. Perambulation may refer to: * Beating the bounds, annual cu ...

of the

Royal Forest A royal forest, occasionally known as a kingswood (), is an area of land with different definitions in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The term ''forest'' in the ordinary modern understanding refers to an area of wooded land; however, the ...

of Exmoor as "the Langeston". In 1890 the letter (which is reversed) was missing from the inscription, but by 1919 the missing piece had been found and was cemented back in place. In 1906 a shelter was erected over the stone, and an excavation in 1937 revealed that the stone was not associated with a burial site.

Image gallery

File:Caratacus Stone in May 2014.jpg, The Early Medieval Caratacus Stone on

. File:Caratacus Stone from above.jpg, The Early Medieval Caratacus Stone on

. File:Latin engraving on the Caratacus Stone.jpg, The Early Medieval Caratacus Stone on

. File:Repair job to the Caratacus Stone.jpg, The Early Medieval Caratacus Stone on

. File:Caratacus Stone in shelter.jpg, The Early Medieval Caratacus Stone on

. File:The Caratacus Stone in its landscape context.jpg, The Early Medieval Caratacus Stone on

References

External links

Caratacus Stone on the Megalithic Portal
{{Commons category-inline History of Somerset Scheduled monuments in West Somerset 6th century in England Sub-Roman Britain Monuments and memorials in Somerset