Gallery Title
Gallery Title
runic plaque
Accession Number NWHCM : 2003.54
Description
Part of folded lead runic plaque, single perforation on part of plaque that is folded over.Inscriptions cover most of visible area. The inscription is notable for being of Scandinavian runes with the possibility of one or two English types. The item was found near the High Altar in a molehill.
Read Morerunic plaque
This fascinating object is a thin rectangular sheet, pierced at one end, and inscribed with forty-nine runic letters, neatly inscribed in seven lines. They appear not to make any sense. However, a number of similar runic inscriptions have been found in Scandinavia, their strange language suggesting that they acted as charms or amulets. The tight folding of the St Benet’s sheet may have been deliberate, ‘holding in’, or hiding, the charm.