Kingmoor Ring

The Kingmoor Ring (also Greymoor Hill Ring) is a Viking Age Anglo-Saxon (9th or 10th century) gold ring bearing a Futhorc inscription.

It was discovered in June 1817 at Greymoor Hill, Kingmoor, near Carlisle (coord|54|55|0|N|2|58|30|W|).By 1859, the ring was in the possession of the British Museum who has received it from the Earl of Aberdeen. A replica is on exhibit in Tullie House, Carlisle.

The ring is one of a small number of Viking Age rings with inscriptions, besides the Bramham Moor, Coquet Island, Cramond, Linstock Castle and Wheatley Hill rings.

The inscription is undeciphered. It reads:runic|ᚨᚱᛦᚱᛁᚢᚠᛚᛏᛦᚱᛁᚢᚱᛁᚦᚩᚾᚷᛚᚨᚴᛏᚨᛈᚩ᛭:"ærkriufltkriuriþonglæstæpo+" with an additional three runes written on the inside, runic|ᛏᚨᚿ, amounting to a total of 30 signs.

Where "k" is the late Futhorc "calc" rune of the same shape as Younger Futhark "Yr", and the "s" is the so-called "bookhand s" looking similar to a Younger Futhark "k", ᚴ. The sequence "ærkriu" is also found on the Bramham Moor Ring, and is interpreted as a spell for staunching blood. For this reason, the entire inscription is likely a protective or healing charm or spell.

References

*Page, R.I., 'The Inscriptions,' Appendix A in D.M. Wilson, Anglo-Saxon Ornamental Metalwork 700-1100 in the British Museum (London): 67-90.
*Okasha, Elisabeth. "Anglo-Saxon Inscribed Rings." Leeds Studies in English, n.s. 34 (2003), 29–45.
*Mindy McLeod, 'Bind-runes in numerological rune-magic' in: Langbroek et al. (ed.), "Amsterdamer Beiträge zur Älteren Germanistik" vol. 56 (2002), p. 32f.

ee also

*Magic ring