Although the Lady St. Mary's Church in Wareham dates from the early 8th century, apparently founded by St Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherbourne at the time, and was rebuilt around 900 and redesigned in 1200 and 1842, five 'Brittonic' inscriptions were found in the church's walls and naves that date back to the 7th century C.E. if not earlier. Their letters are a mix of Roman-style capitals and a contemporary style of lettering known as insular majuscule, found in 6th-century Welsh and Irish inscriptions.
Their original purpose was probably as memorial stones in the early church's cemetery, before being re-used to support the church walls. Aside from their form and function, the inscriptions are interesting in that all have 'Brittonic' or Latin etymologies, suggesting as late as the end of the 7th century Briton language and culture was still going strong in southern Dorset, despite a string of setbacks beginning with the Battle of Deorham in 577.
The first inscription reads 'VIDCV... FILIVS VIDA'. The style of the lettering is likely 7th century, and when it was complete it probably read VIDCVMI FILIUS VIDAR. This links it to the two Old Welsh names *Guidcu and *Guidar, the former meaning something like 'Well-known kind one'. At the very least, it's a touching memorial to a father and son who undoubetly lived respectable secular lives, perhaps as fishermen along the Frome or farmers selling their produce in Duronovaria/Dornwaracaester.
The second inscription has been identified as late 7th century, reading 'IUDNNE... FILI QUI'. Iudnne in its complete form was most likely Iudnerth, an Old Welsh name found in the Book of Llandaff, which means 'lord-like strength', similar to modern Welsh Idris or Breton Judoc. The other name could be any number of Latin qui- type names, maybe Quintilius or Quintus. What's interesting about these names is that the first could refer to a person of some authority, in the manner of Riothamus, Vortigern or Cadwallon; perhaps Iudnerth was a local magnate or chieftain's son given the honour of a cemetery burial. High-sounding names are quite common though with Briton individuals, for instance Riocatus, a Briton bishop in Burgundy circa 480 mentioned by Sidonius Apollinaris, whose name means 'King of Battle', so it's probably a mistake to draw conclusions on that basis. The fact that Iudnerth was the son of a Roman-named individual, though, does suggest a degree of post-Roman continuity. Perhaps Wareham was a small pocket of lowland Romano-British culture that survived until Wessex's conquests at the end of the 7th century.
In the third, fourth and fifth inscriptions the names Catgug, Gideon, Deniel, Auprit and Gongoria appear, each with very different etymologies. Catgug in full was probably Catguocaun, meaning 'glorious in battle', Gideon and Deniel are both Old Testament names, while Auprit's etymology is still up for debate. There's the old Welsh word 'pryt', meaning shape, but the au- remains unexplained. The last name, Gongoria, is 8th to 9th century in lettering style, so whoever Gongoria was probably did not meet Catguocaun, Iudnerth or anyone else inscribed in the memorials. The only close parallel to Gongoria is the male old Welsh *Guncar, from the Book of Llandaff.
To summarise, the memorial stones display a mix of Roman, perhaps lingering Romano-British or re-introduced romanitas as a result of Augustine's reintroduction of Christianity, and old Welsh/Brittonic language and custom. Far from being a Saxon sub-tribe as the 9th-century charters and the Domesday Book implies, it seems that people continued living and working as local Britons, just as they had been for centuries.
I'll have a go at reviewing the archaeological evidence next, to see if the idea that Dorset in the Dark Ages was a cultural backwater holds any weight.
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