The Shepherd's Monument

[Enigma]

Sorry, if this is a repost. But has anyone heard about the Shepherd's Monument? According to my knowledge, it is still a unsolved mystery. The Shepherd's Monument is in Staffordshire, England. It was built in 18th century.

The inscriptions on monument is the real mystery - DOUOSVAVVM.

[Carol the Dabbler]

No, I'd never heard of it, so I went a-Googling, and came up with one person's suggestion for a solution.  I'm unconvinced, but am interested to know what you think of it.

 

[Enigma]

Hey Carol,

You asked me what I think?

To be honest with you, I am still working on the meaning of inscriptions and other facts.

At this point, I can't say anything.

The link you sent was quite interesting. Though his conclusion was wasn't really taking all facts.

Carol, what did you think about this monument?

[Carol the Dabbler]

At this point, I can't really say much about the monument as a whole.

 

The explanation I linked to seems somewhat unlikely to me because Roman numerals are not typically used in that fashion.  They are generally arranged in descending order of magnitude -- and when a smaller numeral does precede a larger one, it is to be subtracted rather than added -- e.g., IX means "one subtracted from ten," or nine.  (Of course, if the inscription was intended as a code or cipher, the usual rules might not apply.)

 

Also, the D and the M are clearly lower than the other letters and somewhat removed from them sideways as well, which presumably means something.  The explanation did not take this into account.

 

And finally, if the inscription was merely intended to honor Poussin's birth date of 1594, why not just render it in the usual way, MDXCIV?  What's so secret about a birth date?

 

Admittedly, it's an interesting coincidence, if that is indeed all it is.

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Nor does the Solved "explanation" seem to take into account the dots between each letter. Those too may be of special meaning.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Ooh -- dots -- I hadn't noticed those!  Interesting -- the marbling of the stone itself makes it difficult to be entirely certain, but the inscription seems to be:

 

O ^. U ^. O ^. S ^. V ^. A ^. V ^. V

 

D ^.  _________________________  M ^.

 

(ignore the underscore, which is there merely for spacing purposes)

 

The dots between letters in the top row could be taken as merely ornamental spacing, as could the dot following the D -- but why then would the final dot not precede the M?  Could be a simple error -- or not.

 

[Enigma]

Found this article.

According to me, this seems a plausible conclusion for the abbreviation. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/8295174/Shepherds-Monument-code-was-19th-century-graffiti.html

 

What do you guys think?

[SherlockedCAMPer]

That is thought out and convincing.  The code cracker even states that he tried to convince himself that he is wrong which is more than what some can say.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

As good an explanation as any,

[Carol the Dabbler]

Interesting that they say nobody mentioned the inscription at first.  If that's true, then either everyone understood it when the monument was first built, or else it's a later addition of some sort.

[ferobson]

Hi. This mystery has in deed been solved. Please read, Secrets of the Shepherd's Monument, by F E Robson (that'll be me). It is not easy to understand, but that does not make it wrong. It took 20,000 hours over the course of 16 years, but it is correct and will stand up to any amount of scrutiny. Best wishes, Frank.

[Caya]

Hi Frank and welcome!   Advertising your own works is normally only allowed here within strict guidelines, but I‘m permitting this one since it’s so fitting the forum‘s spirit. Anyway, welcome and good job, putting in those hours would surely impress even Sherlock himself.  

[Carol the Dabbler]

23 hours ago, Caya said:

I‘m permitting this one since it’s so fitting the forum‘s spirit.

And it's got its own thread already!

Welcome, Frank, and please feel free to stick around.  Even if you don't happen to be interested in Sherlock Holmes, we have a lot of miscellaneous topics that you may enjoy.

I haven't read your book, of course (having only heard of it just now), but my current best guess is that the letters are the initials of a sentence.  I'll admit that wouldn't shed much light on the meaning, though!

 

[ferobson]

Hi. Of the letters, D stands for Demosthenes, so D is the first letter of the last word of the name of one of Thomas Anson's garden follies: the Choragic Lanthorn of Demosthenes: this is one part of the key. After deciphering the remaining letters, each letter is the first letter of the last word of each of Thomas Anson's garden and parkland follies. The dots are geometric alignment points. Combined with the carving of Poussin's Et in Arcadia Ego, the Shepherd's Monument represents a map of Shugborough estate. But these are just three of the 43 steps required to solve the mystery. A hint or three never hurts. Best wishes, Frank.

PS: I think SH is great, but is that Sherlock Holmes or Shugborough Hall? Certainly the former. 🤠

[Caya]

Oh so this ties into Et in Arcadia ego? The plot certainly thickens.  

[Carol the Dabbler]

This may be irrelevant, but I just reread the second article that Enigma posted above.  It's got a nice close-up shot of the inscription, and now I'm not so sure that the final "dot" isn't just a natural freckle in the stone.  It's a bit further away from its letter than any of the others (even though that M is the widest letter of the bunch), plus it's right next to a cluster of smaller freckles.

 

[ferobson]

There are links to the Et in Arcadia Ego mystery that is Rennes le Chateau and Berenger Sauniere: same roots.

[Carol the Dabbler]

14 hours ago, ferobson said:

There are links to the Et in Arcadia Ego mystery....

Several articles have been mentioned (and I'm easily confused) -- so I'm not sure which one you're referring that has the links.

 

[ferobson]

Hi. I mean the Et in Arcadia Ego mystery discussed in The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, on which Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code is based. Just for clarity, by 'links' I mean that Shugborough and Rennes le Chateau both have two of the same paintings, Poussin's Et in Arcadia Ego  version II and David Tenniers the Younger's The Temptation of St Anthony. There is also a link between the third painting from the Rennes mystery, of Celestine V (unknown artist) and Shugborough, via Dante and his Inferno. What other Et in Arcadia Ego mysteries are there? 🤠

[Caya]

Well there‘s the third Gabriel Knight game.  

[Carol the Dabbler]

Bit odd for a game to be named in Latin, isn't it?  I'm totally ignorant about the matter, but guessing that its name came from one of the sources that Frank mentioned -- what do you think, Frank?