Cullercoats, runic forgery

HER Number:
727

District:
N Tyneside

Site Name:
Cullercoats, runic forgery

Place:
Cullercoats

Map Sheet:
NZ37SE

Class:
Religious Ritual and Funerary

Site Type: Broad:

Site Type: Specific:
Inscribed Stone

General Period:
Unknown

Specific Period:

Form of Evidence:
Find

Description:
In 1967 a sandstone boulder carrying a runic inscription was seen close to the cliff face and just north of a sewer outlet at the Cullercoats end of Tynemouth Long Sands. It was possible to examine it in 1968, and the translated Scandinavian inscription read '(personal name ending in "-rik"?) raised (the) stone(s) good luck Alawin'. It was concluded to be a forgery, both on linguistic grounds, and because the boulder was weathered but the inscription was not, in spite of its lying below the normal high tide mark. The stone subsequently disappeared.

Easting:
367

Northing:
711

Grid Reference:
NZ367711

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 727 >> P.J. Frankis & R.N. Bailey, 1969, A Runic Forgery from Cullercoats Archaeologia Aeliana, 4, XLVII, 43-46; John Frankis and Richard Bailey, 1968, A Runic Stone from Cullercoats, Northumberland in Archaeological Newsbulletin for Northumberland Cumberland and Westmorland, No. 2, May 1968, pp 3-5