SCULPTURED STONE AT AUQUHOLLIE, KINCARDINESHIRE. 257 V. THE OLD-CELTIC INSCRIBED AND SCULPTURED STONE AT AUQU- HOLLIE, KINCARDINESHIRE, AND OGAM IN SCOTLAND. BY FRANCIS 0. DIACK, M.A., ABERDEEN. This monument, locally known as the Lang Steen, is situated at the farm-roasida f eo d betwee farme nth Eastef so Nethed ran r Auquhollie, Fig. 1. Standing Stone bearing an Ogam Inscription and Symbol t Auquholliea s , Kincardineshire. in the parish of Fetteresso, Kincardineshire, about 5 miles north-west of Stonehaven. It is a large, unshaped monolith of quartzose gneiss, of a rude but impressive appearance, 8 feet 6 inches high and of an irregu- larly rectangular formgirte Th s roughlhi . ye th abou s i feet 7 t I . only inscribed monument of the earliest period, north of the Forth, 7 1 VOL. LIX. 258 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, MAY 11, 1925. which still stands undisturbed where it was originally placed; for it is safe to say that there would have been no motive in later times to change its position, or that, if it had once fallen down, anyone would have taken the trouble of re-erecting such a mass (fig. 1). According to the Earl of Southesk, whose notice was written some forty years ago, it is "said to have formed part of a circle recently removed." I have not been .able to verify this. There was, it seems, a circle of stones not far off, whence the local name, Langstanes, of a former holdin absorbew no g n Netheri d " AuquhollieI t bu , | could find 110 proof that this stone belonged to that %.,,, circle, and all experience is against it, since alphabetic ^ writing has never been found on such circles. | In the Early Christian Monuments of Scotland, ^ p. xx, the stone is described as belonging to the early f5^ clas f monumento s s "with nothine inscripth t bu g- = tions incised upon them." oversightn Thia s i s r fo , e north-easth n o t fac °e see b ther nn ca certaie n g sculpturings, to be referred to below, which are else- o where well known and in virtue of which the stone e includeb o t s di amon r earlou g y inscribed an d 0 sculptured monuments. >~_ '-* I. s nowa t tilt I l. 1 1886 thae existencth t f goga o e m ^, lettering was first pointed out by the late Rev. J. G. =••= Michie, ministe f Dinneto r , Aberdeenshire. Since then o readings have appeared by the Earl of Southesk,1 2 3 4 °0 Rhys, Nicholson, and Romilly Alien. The inscription %=, is on the south-east angle and extends over a length ,== of 52 inches (fig. 2). In contrast with those on many Fig Oga. 2 . m inscrip- early t onlstonesno ys i quit t i , e s completeha t i t bu , tio Auquholliet na , no^ suffered materia- l de damagy point e an Th t .a e terioration that it, or indeed the surface of the stone in general, exhibit practicalle du s si graduao yt l weathering onlye Th . weatherin partn i s gi s rather severe, though opiniony neverm n i ,o t , the extent of i-aising serious difficulty ; and on the whole the inscription ca describee nb s quitda e legible when studied with care, though some- what faded in parts.5 The angle of the stone, which except near the 1 Prof. Soc. Ant. Scot.,37 . p . volxx .' Ibid., vols. xxvi xxxii. d 270p . an ,. 348p . - 3 Vernacular Inscriptions of Alban, p. 4. 4 Early Christian Monuments of Scotland, pt. iii. p. 203. b "I think that the stone might be read with certainty if it could be cleared of the lichen," Rhys in Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. xxvi. p. 271. SCULPTURED STONE AT AUQUHOLLIE, KINCARDINESHIRE. 259 beginning forms a nearly straight edge, is used as the stem-line, and the vowels are circular notches cut in it. The consonant scores are on the average from 2 to 3 inches in length; they come up close to, but t meanno e t ar quit o reacht e e edgeth , , whic s reservei he th r fo d vowels alone. They are carefully spaced, parallel to each other, and beed ha n originally deeply cut. The inscription begins at about 20 inches from the ground and reads upwards. As usual there is no division of words and no punc- tuation. The first consonant is v, and most readings begin with it, but befor. Rhya thiw t n i therssa esa lettes i e s rpossibli (t "I e that befortherv an-a"s e ewa t th ecoul s mint makbu ) hi d no reao d p t eu d it. I think it is clearly there, followed by vuo, all quite clear. The spacine grou th t perfectl f no pgo s ui y regular e firsth , t notch being separated from the second by a slightly greater space than the second is from the third, so that taken by itself this group might be held to read ao; but on the other hand, when the rest of the inscription is looked at, the division between the a and the o is too small to be meant for a space separating vowels. After avuo, the edge turns sharply to the left and the inscriber follows it. Just before the n there is a deeply cut a which has hitherto been missed. It is as y characte an e cleainscription th s a rn i r d thoug s an rathei , t i h r broader than voweonla usualn e ca yb t i l, fro s positiomit d fronan m followine e contextvowee Th th th . y a o l n sa gn call , r o that fo s s i t comment, being certain t therbu , s rooi e r differencmfo f opinioo e n regarding the next vowel. Two unmistakable notches follow the n, and then there is a space between the second of these and the first score of the next n. Rhys and Romilly Alien read o, neglecting this apparently blank space . firse Butth t n placei , , uninscribed blanka n si position like this are against ogam usage; even were there no trace of a vowel notch here it would be legitimate to postulate its having existed, as is often done with convincing results in such circumstances. But secondly, the third notch though very faint has not quite vanished, I think. If the space is examined in profile against the sky from the left, the letter can be seen to consist of a group of three notches, that is, u. Another clear n follows. Between the last score of it and e nex th e firs f tth o tconsonan t thert distanca s e i inche 8 f o e s occu- pied by vowels. Rhys reads i, i.e. five notches, and Alien tentatively the same. But if we use as modulus the space occupied by the two e's further on, the space necessary for an i would be only 4 inches , however e is havew t I 8 . insteae , th unnecessar f o d o resort y o t t this indirect argument, seeing that the vowel notches are there to be counted and read. There are eight of them altogether, arranged in 260 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, MAY 11, 1925. groups.1 Afte e lasth rt scor have f nw o e a groue f fourpo , tha, is t t sureno , m howevera I e. , that thi s whasi e inscribeth t e r w cut f I . rea e four e firsdth th r , crowdeto e fourt fa to threth o e d to hear an d away and yet not far enough away to belong to a different group. This tempts one to regard the second of the four as not part of the letter but due to some accident or weathering, and to read two vowels, viz. ao, givin a gmor e regular spacing. After this thera s i e short uninscribed space followed by a group of three notches, and that in turn followe a simila y b d r uninscribed distanc d the an ea nsingl e notch, a. The whole series, therefore, between n and t is either eua or (more probably) aoua. Thereafter come the letters tedov, agreed on by t thiallA s. point Rhys close e legenth s t quotedbu s Romilly Alies na suggestin followep gga "v a afte fouy e db th rr notches." Three letters can be read after v. First a group of four vowel notches. These are best seen frofirse lefte faints i mTh t th secone . th , third dan d clearer, while the fourth, barely visible, can be supplied from its position in a groufron f f o fivo tp e consonant scores. s veri Thi n ys much weathered, especiall e scores th e end th f yo .s Their beginninge ar s clearer, and Romilly Alien's "four notches" are doubtless four of them. This letter is best seen when the sun is just passing off that face. By this point the angle has almost disappeared and the succeeding vowel is whan o t nearls i t cu yflaa t surface t consistI . f fivo s e notchesf o l al , them faint but visible, especially when looked at against the sky from the north-east. The hollows too can all be felt. There is no sign of any score r notcheo s s beyon e inscriptiodth thisd an , n ends heret I .