130 REPORT OF MEETINGS FOR 1904 



Rev. Dr James Russell to interpret the Latin words inscribed 

 upon it, which proved so far successful ; but it was left to 

 the learned Principal of Jesus College, Oxford, Dr John Rhj's, 

 with the assistance of the present parish minister, to trace 

 their full significance, which was at length obtained by reading 

 up and down from the left side, in place of the ordinary 

 method from side to side. One phrase is still wanting, but 

 this is owing to an imperfection in the stone, a small portion 

 on the right hand corner having been broken off. The 



inscription reads thus : " Hie memoriae insignissimi 



principis Nudi Dumno geni hie jacent in tumulo duo filii 

 Liberalis." In an article contributed to Chambers Journal 

 of 1st July 1904, entitled "The Dowie Dens of Yarrow," 

 Rev. Mr Borland hazards a conjecture regarding the history 

 of this illustrious Prince Nudus, and the antiquity of the 

 stone. Having premised that it stands in close proximity to 

 the Catrail, an earthwork in the form of a ditch which runs 

 from Peel Fell in the Cheviots to Galashiels, and which is 

 generally accepted by antiquarians as forming the march or 

 boundary between the Angles of Bernicia and the Britons 

 of Strathclyde, he draws attention to a tradition that an 

 engagement between them is ascribed to this vicinity, 

 which still retains the local title of the "Warriors' Rest." 

 "The King of the Britons of Strathclyde at this particular 

 period," he says, "was Roderick Hael, the 'Liberal,' and 

 in the Four Books of Wales we read of one Dungual Hen, 

 who had a grandson called Nud, also called Hael or Liberal, 

 whose son Dryan fought at Arrderyd in 573. It would 

 therefore appear that the two sons of Liberalis, whom this 

 stone commemorates, were the sons of Hael, the King of the 

 Strathclyde Britons. This stone is the oldest British inscribed 

 stone in existence." The subject is more fully treated by him 

 in a Paper included in this year's Proceedings ; and an impres- 

 sion of the markings on the stone by Miss Russell of Ashiestiel, 

 may be seen in Plato I., Vol. x., Part i., of the same. 



Half the journey to Rodono had now been completed, and 



still the romantic interest enfolding it gave no 

 Upper Vale indication of abatement. Near by, on the left, 

 of Yarrow, stands the farm of Ladhope, valued in the 



Exchequer Rolls, 1455-68, as yielding £6 yearly, 



