Back Manxrunestenene Danish Ogham- und Runensteine der Isle of Man German Piedras rúnicas de la isla de Man Spanish Pierres runiques mannoises French Manske runesteiner NB
The Manx runestones were made by the Norse population on the Isle of Man during the Viking Age, mostly in the 10th century. The Isle of Man (with an area of 572 square kilometres (221 sq mi)[1] and a population estimated by the Venerable Bede in the 8th century at 1200 families)[2] had 26 surviving Viking Age runestones in 1983, compared to 33 in all of Norway.[3] The relatively high number of them may appear on the Isle of Man because of the merging of the immigrant Norse runestone tradition with the local Celtic tradition of raising high crosses.[3]
In addition, the church contributed by not condemning the runes as pagan, but instead it encouraged the recording of people for Christian purposes. Sixteen of the stones bear the common formula, "N ... put up this cross in memory of M", but among the other ten there is also a stone raised for the benefit of the runestone raiser.
The Manx runestones are consequently similar to the Scandinavian ones,[4] but whereas a Norwegian runestone is called "stone" in the inscriptions, even if it is in the shape of a cross, the runestones that were raised in the British isles are typically called "crosses".[5] There are also two slabs incised with Anglo-Saxon runes at Maughold.[6]