This namestone probably belonged to someone who may have been called Ethelhard, an Old English masculine name. The well spaced inscription in the lower quadrants reads ‘EDE’ and ‘HARD’, although there are some missing letters. Ethel is derived from the Old English for ‘noble’, and Hard may be derived from the Old English for ‘brave’.

It features a triquetra at the base of the cross – a roundel filled with interlacing knotwork.

The name is written using Latin characters, but the elaborate style is known as ‘Lindisfarne display script’, which suggests it might be a later creation compared to some of the other triquetra namestones.

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This namestone once belonged to a man named Aedberecht – an Old English masculine name. It is written in Anglo-Saxon Latin capitals, spelled out over two lines in the lower quadrants. This stone was discovered in 1888 during excavations by Sir William Crossman and Reverand W. W. Kecky. Only one face of this stone is carved and is decorated with a cross which has a base, but it is otherwise too worn to make out any other decoration.

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This is a very unusual namestone. Instead of a single central cross, it has two small crosses.  Although it has a central hollow, which may have held a decorative stone, it is otherwise pretty rudimentary compared to some of the others!

It’s not clear whether this was a finished piece, practice work done by an apprentice in a hurry, or perhaps just made much later than all the rest.

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This stone is another roundheaded namestone which is typical of the stones found on Lindisfarne. It is carved on both faces, with the design on each face being very similar. It has a border and a cross, and the round shapes at the end of the cross arms are deeply sunken into the stone. There is an inscription on each face, and the inscriptions on both sides of this stone are written in runes and read ‘AUD’ in the upper left quadrant of the first face, and ‘LAC’ in the upper right quadrant of the second face. ‘Lac’ is associated with Old English masculine names. Being carved on both sides suggests that the stone was set upright, perhaps being used for a double burial. Alternatively, it may have been reused.

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The name in the upper quadrants are completely illegible, but may have been written in runes. In the lower quadrant, you can make out the characters ‘P – UINI’ and ‘NA – ‘. ‘Uini’ was a spelling for a name element ‘wine’, which is derived from the Old English for ‘friend’.

This stone is in two pieces, but joined together they form one of the most complete namestones in the Lindisfarne collection. There is a decorative ‘triquetra’ at the end of each of the cross arms – a roundel filled with interlacing knotwork, very similar to those on ‘Unknown’s Triquetra namestone’.  Despite it’s very worn condition, it was clearly once a very elegant carving.

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The cross on this stone has a large round centre, and despite significant weathering the upper portion of the cross can still be seen quite well, although it is not the most elegantly designed stone. No clear traces of a name have survived.

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This namestone is beautifully decorated, with four ‘triquetras’ – the circular roundels filled with interlacing knotwork at the ends of each of the surviving cross arms, and in the centre of the cross. These triquetras show the close ties that Lindisfarne had with Dal Riada, the kingdom that included parts of Ireland and western Scotland. Many of Lindisfarne’s leading figures, including Aidan, came from the kingdom’s most famous monastery on Iona which was founded by Saint Columba. This kind of ‘Irish-influenced’ artwork is a reflection of that early history.

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This namestone belonged to a woman called Osgyth – an Old English feminine name. Her name is inscribed both in runes (top quadrants), and in Anglo-Saxon Latin capitals (lower quadrants). Os is derived from the Old English for ‘god’, while ‘gyth’ is derived from the Old English for battle’. You can also make out a small cross before her name in the bottom left quadrant.

It is neatly carved with cross, which contains a hollow central cavity. These hollows may have been used to hold a relic, stone, or jewel of some kind. This stone is among the best laid out from the collection of stones found on Lindisfarne; the cross is proportioned well in relation to the frame of the stones, and the runic and Latin inscription are carved confidently with good spacing.  The layout of this stone is similar to others found on Lindisfarne and at Hartlepool.

The top two quadrants are inscribed with runes, but we can only make out the middle few letters which spell OIN. An educated guess suggests the name might originally have read Coina or Coena, which are forms of an Old English masculine name.

In the lower two quadrants, the stone is inscribed with the Latin alphabet, in Anglo-Saxon capitals with BEANNAH. Interestingly, the ‘E’ is carved inside the ‘B’. Beanna is an Old English masculine name.

Several namestones have the same name carved in runes and Latin characters, but on others, like this one, the runes and Latin characters spell out two different names. It’s unclear whether the names commemorate two different people, or just one person who took a new name when entering into religious life on Lindisfarne.

This stone is beautifully decorated with a will proportioned cross and semi-circular decoration in the outer corners of the two lower quadrants. The centre of the stone is decorated with a petal-like design. Traces of pigment on the namestone suggests that it (and perhaps others too) was originally painted in bright colours.

This fragment looks to be approximately a quarter of the original stone. There is a border, which may have featured and interlaced design. There are traces of an inscription, but they are too worn to read.

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This stone was found in 1957 in a field east of the priory. It is badly worn, but does have a deep hollow in the centre, similar to many namestones found on Lindisfarne. There are faint traces of an inscription on the stone below the hollow, however it is too worn to tell what the inscription says, or what language it is written in.

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