Pillar of Eliseg

The Pillar of Eliseg — also known as Elise's Pillar or Croes Elisedd in Welsh — stands near Valle Crucis Abbey, Denbighshire, Wales. It was erected by Cyngen ap Cadell (died 855), king of Powys in honour of his great-grandfather Elisedd ap Gwylog. The form Eliseg found on the pillar is thought to be a mistake by the carver of the inscription.

Whilst the pillar itself dates to the 9th century, the mound is thought to be significantly older, possibly prehistoric. Certainly the mound can be dated to the Bronze Age.

The Latin inscription consisted of some thirty-one lines of insular script. It not only mentioned several individuals described in the Historia Britonum, but also complemented the information presented in that text.

The Latin inscription was as follows:

A generally accepted translation of this inscription, one of the longest surviving inscriptions from pre-Viking Wales, is as follows:

[the column is broken here. One line, possibly more, lost]

The Pillar was thrown down by the Roundheads during the English Civil War and a grave under it opened. Edward Lhuyd examined the Pillar and copied the inscription in 1696. The lower half disappeared but the upper half was re-erected in 1779. The original inscription is now illegible.

Trevor Lloyd, the landowner in 1773 is said to have conducted an examination and found a stone cist burial in which he claimed to have found a skeleton and artefacts, which he removed.

The mound which supports the pillar was subjected to excavation in the years 2010, 2011 and 2012 by Project Eliseg. This established that the earliest phase of construction was that of a kerbed platform cairn, dated by type to around 2000 BC. A small cist in the first phase of construction yielded evidence of burnt human bone, confirming its use as a burial site. The second phase of construction consisted of a raising in height of the cairn and contained a large cist considered as Early Bronze Age, however, no human remains were found. A further cist was found in this phase which contained some 7 kg of cremated bone, which represents numerous adult, juvenile and infant burials. A flint knife and a bone pin were also recovered. The final phase of construction appeared to be relatively modern and probably subsequent to the re-erection of the cross.

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