Ogham stone

The National Monuments Service's description

On W shoreline of the Mullet Peninsula, located in the interior of a ruined, medieval church (MA016-004001-), named Cross Abbey on the 1921 OS 6-inch map, which was part of a priory of Augustinian Canons, and a cell of Ballintubber Abbey (MA089-058004-). The church stands in the NW end of a roughly D-shaped graveyard (MA016-004002-), which is bordered on the W side by a cliff dropping to a rocky shoreline, at the NE end of a long sweep of beach.

Westropp (1914, 77) recorded this stone as one of two tall stone pillars, one on either side of a ‘walled burial space, 7 feet wide [2.1m],’ which spanned the width of the church. He described this stone, on the E side of the burial space, as follows: ‘6 feet 5 inches high [1.95m] by 8 inches [0.2m] by 6 inches [0.15m], and shows notches on the natural-squared edge and faint traces of straight and slant scores'.

Upright, straight-sided pillar-like stone (H 1.95m; Wth 2.3m N−S; T 0.17m E−W), rectangular in cross-section, with an ogham inscription cut across the NW angle. The top of the stone has an upward slant from N to S. A section of the upper E face has sheared off in a flat plane, reducing the E−W thickness of the upper 0.57m of the stone to 0.1m. The stone tilts very slightly to N.

The ogham stone is built into the E side of a flat-topped, vertical-sided rectangular grave structure (Wth 2.3m E−W; H 0.6-0.7m), built of mortared stone , which is located c. 6m from the E end of the church, and spans the N−S width of the church. This structure, the ‘walled burial space’ recorded by Westropp (1914, 77), is relatively late in date (it blocks a doorway in the N wall of the church), and is somewhat dilapidated, with a largely grass-covered upper surface. The ogham stone is incorporated into the outer edge of the low E wall of the grave structure, at a distance of 1.1m from the N wall of the church. The base of the stone is flanked on the S, W and N sides by the grave wall; the E face is more or less flush with the external face of the grave wall. (Jane O’Shaughnessy, field report)

The upper marks on the ogham stone are so badly worn that a reading is impossible, but more legible marks [including an R] exist lower down and continue into the ground (pers. comm. Karl Brady) (Condit and Corlett 2005, 98).

Compiled by: Nora White
Date of upload: 2 May 2017

References

Condit, T. and Corlett, C. (eds) 2005 Above and beyond: essays in memory of Leo Swan. Wicklow. Wordwell.

Westropp, T.J. 1914 The promontory forts and early remains of the coasts of County Mayo. Part 3. The Mullet (continued). Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 44, No. 1, 67-83.