Shugborough inscription

#3057 among destinations in the United Kingdom

Tomb

Gallery (4)

Map

Gallery

Facts and practical information

The Shugborough Inscription is a sequence of letters – O U O S V A V V, between the letters D M – carved on the 18th-century Shepherd's Monument in the grounds of Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire, England, below a mirror image of Nicolas Poussin's painting the Shepherds of Arcadia. It has never been satisfactorily explained, and has been called one of the world's top uncracked ciphertexts. ()

Alternative names: Coordinates: 52°48'5"N, 2°0'45"W

Location

EnglandUnited Kingdom

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Day trips

Shugborough inscription – popular in the area (distance from the attraction)

Nearby attractions include: Shugborough Hall, Staffordshire County Museum, Essex Bridge, Haywood Junction.

~520 ftS
Museum, Historical place, History museum
Shugborough Hall, Stafford
3 min walk • Shugborough Hall, a quintessential example of a stately home in Great Haywood, is nestled within the lush English countryside of Stafford, United Kingdom. This grand estate, replete with classic Georgian architecture, offers a glimpse into the opulent lifestyle of the...
~710 ftS
Museum
Staffordshire County Museum
4 min walk • Staffordshire County Museum is housed in the Servants' Quarters of Shugborough Hall, Milford, near Stafford, Staffordshire, England. The museum features a restored Victorian kitchen, laundry and brewhouse as well as permanent galleries and temporary exhibitions.
~910 ftE
Bridge
Essex Bridge
5 min walk • Essex Bridge is a Grade I listed packhorse bridge over the River Trent near Great Haywood, Staffordshire, England. Spanning the Trent 100 metres downstream of its confluence with the River Sow, it was built in the late sixteenth century by the Earl of Essex a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I.
~1180 ftE
Canal
Haywood Junction
6 min walk • Haywood Junction, or Great Haywood Junction, is the name of the canal junction where the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal terminates and meets the Trent and Mersey Canal near to the village of Great Haywood, Staffordshire, England.
1.2 miSE
Monastery
St Mary's Abbey
32 min walk • Saint Mary's Abbey in Colwich, Staffordshire was a monastery of Roman Catholic nuns of the English Benedictine Congregation, founded in 1623 at Cambrai, Flanders, in the Spanish Netherlands, and closed down in 2020.
0.5 miE
Canal
Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal
14 min walk • The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal is a navigable narrow canal in Staffordshire and Worcestershire in the English Midlands.
0.5 miW
Lake, Canal
Tixall Wide
14 min walk • Tixall Wide, also known as Tixall Broad or The Broad Water, is a body of water that forms part of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal near Tixall in Staffordshire, England, to the south of the former Tixall Hall.
~1300 ftNE
Canal
Black country ring
7 min walk • The Black Country Ring is a UK canal ring composed of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, Birmingham Main Line, Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, Coventry Canal and Trent and Mersey Canal.
1 miSW
Tunnel
Shugborough Tunnel, Cannock Chase
25 min walk • The Shugborough Tunnel is a 777-yard railway tunnel on the Trent Valley line running under part of the Shugborough Estate in Colwich, Staffordshire, England.