She added: “Most Ogham inscriptions you generally find in the more Celtic areas – Scotland, Ireland and down in Cornwall – you don’t generally get them down in the Midlands.”
Mr Senior told the he had a “fair idea” what the stone was when he found it, but was unable to find someone to confirm his suspicions and “hit a brick wall”.
But he said that changed when Katherine Forsyth from the University of Glasgow “took the trouble to come down with a researcher” a few months ago.
She partially translated the script to reveal a name: Mael Dumcail.
Mr Senior said his theory was that it could have been a keepsake, possibly carried by a Roman soldier.
“It’s a very tactile thing – just feels right as if it was meant to be held,” he said.
