Archaeology & History

Mystery surrounds strange writing on stone slab found in garden

By T.K. Randall
May 15, 2024 ·  18 comments

What does this inscription say and who wrote it ? Image Credit: Twitter / @adams_john It's not every day that you discover a mysterious inscription in your own garden, but this was exactly what happened recently when John Adams of Shropshire, England lifted up one of his patio stones and found several lines of indecipherable text inscribed on the underside.

Curious to know what it said, he posted a photograph of the writing on social media.

"It was obviously significant to the person who wrote on it because they spent time and effort to write something and quite a number of words," he told BBC News.

The property itself is situated on what was once a well-frequented traveling route, so it is quite possible that the stone had been part of a landmark of some kind."[The house] was an inn previously," he said. "It was also a pub. Maybe it was [written by] somebody who happened to be passing through or staying here."

"It was laid on a bed of lime mortar so it's old mortar, it's not been done recently and it's on local stone. Norbury stone is very easily identifiable because of the types of fossils that are within it."

Some have suggested that the writing could be in Hebrew, though this has yet to be confirmed.

"It has to have meaning," said Adams. "I think fundamentally it has to have meaning - it's not random or a piece of graffiti. It meant something to somebody."

Lifted an old stone slab this week and found this on the reverse.

The house has been around for 300+ years, so this could date back to 17th c.

Any ideas what the writing says? (There is an area in the middle that has spalled) pic.twitter.com/RnfkxHyWfs

- John Adams (@adams_john) May 9, 2024

Source: BBC News | Comments (18)

Tags: Stone, Inscription