Ogham Stone in Tavistock Vicarage Garden

Taken on 12/06/1937 of an 'Ogham stone' in the Tavistock vicarage garden. An Ogham stone is a stone inscribed with an 'early form of writing' known as Ogham, usually used as a memorial. The Ogham alphabet was derived from Latin script and the inscriptions are commonly in old Irish. They date to the early Medieval period. The stone was first noted by Polwhele in 1797, and then 'rediscovered' by the Rev. Bray in 1834. It was then used as a gatepost to a field on Roborough Down near Buckland Monachorum. Bray applied for permission to move the stone to theTavistock vicarage garden but failed. In 1868 Mr Hastings Russell, subsequently the Duke of Bedford, had the stone moved to the vicarage garden at Tavistock.