Builders have found a mysterious tablet with Hebrew script while digging up a patio.
The mysterious stone was found when renovating the house, that is believed to be around 300-years-old, owned by John Adams in Norbury, Shropshire.
Mr Adams turned to social media to try to work out what the text might say with several people suggesting it was written in Hebrew, which was later confirmed by experts.
How was the slab discovered?
Mr Adams, a National Trust worker, said it was "not exactly what you'd expect to find in your patio" and that builders had also unveiled coins, pistol balls, and Victorian curling tongs.
He believes the slab has been in the ground for quite a while and said: “It was laid on a bed of lime mortar so it's old mortar, it’s not been done recently and it's on local stone.
"Norbury stone is very easily identifiable because of the types of fossils that are within it."
He posted an image of the slab on X, formerly Twitter, adding: “Lifted an old stone slab this week and found this on the reverse.
“The house has been around for 300+ years, so this could date back to 17th c. Any ideas what the writing says? (There is an area in the middle that has spalled).”
He told the BBC: "It was obviously significant to the person who wrote on it because they spent time and effort to write something and quite a number of words.”
Hebrew writing ‘doesn't actually make any sense’
However, Prof Lily Kahn, the head of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at University College London, said she and her colleagues initially thought it could be a gravestone, but after analysis, concluded the script, while definitely written in the Hebrew alphabet, is gibberish and possibly written by a “drunken monk” or was a prop in a nativity play at a local church.
She said: "When you look at it more closely you see that it doesn't actually make any sense.
"And not only does it not make any sense in Hebrew, it also doesn’t make any sense in Yiddish or Aramaic or other languages that Jews wrote in a form of the Hebrew script."
‘The most interesting patio slab in all of Shropshire’
Mr Adams said that because of the theorised church connection, the slab could potentially be displayed in a nearby church or school.
“It’s got to go somewhere, we can’t just put it back where it was. It’s a bit big to hang on the wall but it’s got to be seen,” he said.
"I'm kind of relieved it wasn't a gravestone, because that would have been a bit spooky to find in your patio.
"The drunken monk I'd very happily go with that and that's a lovely story, especially in a pub."
