A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 
rest is now very far from distinct, though part of the topmost line on the 
north side can be read. 
West side, over the figure of Christ : 
+ GESSUS Jesus 
CRISTTUS ~ Christ 
There are traces of a name, possibly that of Christ, at the top of 
that side. On the panel below the figure of Christ is a long inscription, 
which we give in facsimile from a squeeze-tracing. ‘The reading usually 
adopted is— 
+ ThIS SIG-BECN This victory-column 
ThUN SETTON H- tall set up 
WAETRED WOTh- Hwetred, Woth- 
GAR OLWFWOL- gar, Olwfwol- 
ThU AFT ALCFRI- thu, for Alcfrith 
ThU EAN CYNINg late king 
EAC OSWIUNg and son of Oswiu 
+ GEBID HE. Pray for (? the high 
O SIN(N)A SOWHULA sin of ?) his soul 
Herr Vietor thinks that the name Hwee?red, part of the Wothgar and the 
word for dmg are distinctly readable ; while he is inclined to accept the 
name of A/cfrith and the word for son of Oswiu. In the last two lines 
he sees a version of the usual formula, Pray for bis soul. 
Our facsimile shows how difficult these last lines are to read, and 
how doubtful ‘ the high sin’ must be ; though the main purport of the 
inscription seems to be fairly clear. If the Bewcastle cross is to be 
dated 671, as its inscription and ornament seem to suggest, these runes 
are the earliest dated piece of English writing in existence. 
The Irton cross had an inscription in runes, of which Professor 
George Stephens of Copenhagen read (from a cast made in 1863 by the 
Rev. Daniel H. Haigh) this fragment— 
+ GEBIDETh FORA Pray for... 
Herr Vietor in 1895 said: ‘I can only see at the end of the first line 
the remains of a B, or as Haigh thought p (Thorn, the rune for Th), 
but not Haigh’s +G at the beginning of the first line, F at the beginning 
and M at the end of the second, 4 at the beginning of the third line.’ 
In Carlisle cathedral a Runic inscription was found by Mr. Purday 
in 1855 under the plaster and white- 
wash on the western wall of the 
‘ south transept, where it may be seen 
framed and glazed. It is evidently 
not a monumental inscription, though 
Tue Dorin Runes. taken on discovery as such, but the 
sgraffito of some mason—perhaps— 
at the time when the cathedral was being built. After some guesses 
Dr. Charlton read— . 
TOLFIHN YRAITA ThAESI RYNR A ThIS! STAIN 
‘Dolfin wrote these runes on this stone.’ 
278 
