Ogham stone

The National Monuments Service's description

In the NE corner of a field of rough, damp, rush-grown pasture, located on a low rise, 2m to N of a holy well (MA073-013----). A church (MA073-014001-) and graveyard (MA073-014002-) are located c. 250m to SE, and there is a possible ecclesiastical enclosure (MA073-011001-), named Killerrikeen, c. 240m to W.

Upright, straight-sided pillar-like block of stone (H 1.28m; 0.4m E−W; 0.4m N−S), square in cross-section and rectangular in shape, tapering slightly towards the top, bearing an ogham inscription on the NE angle. The inscription is visible extending from the top of the stone to a point c. 0.8m below the top.

The flattish top (0.4m E−W; 0.25m N−S) of the stone has a slight slope to S, and is corrugated on a roughly N−S axis by several natural fissures which continue as fine striations or cracks obliquely down the N and S faces of the stone. There is an angular indentation in the lower SW corner of the stone, giving the stone an irregular cross-section at ground level. All exposed surfaces of the stone are moderately blotched with lichens.

The stone is set upright in a bed of concrete on top of a circular stone-built platform (diam. 3.2m; H 0.45m at N, 1m at S). The perimeter of the platform is defined by a roughly coursed wall of boulders and large, horizontally-laid stones, rising slightly proud of the flat top of the platform. The platform is built up on the S side to compensate for a gentle fall of ground on that side. The top and sides are largely obscured by sod and moss. (Jane O’Shaughnessy, field report)

Macalister (1945, 7-8, no. 5) records that the stone had previously been a 'kneeling-stone' on a dwarf wall surrounding a well dedicated to St Mobhi', and that at some later date it was moved to its current site: 'upright on a low altar-like structure north of the well'. Macalister (ibid) suggested that a fracture across the stone's top, cutting off the inscription, was the result of deliberate action, `presumably by the masons who built the wall around the well'. He read the inscription as: ALATTOS MAQI BR[-- and suggested that a solitary vowel notch survives on the downward side of the top of opposite angle.

Compiled by: Nora White
Date of upload: 21 June 2017

References

Macalister, R.A.S. 1945 Corpus inscriptionum insularum celticarum. Dublin. Stationery Office.

McManus, D. 1991 A guide to ogam. Maynooth: Monographs 4. Maynooth. An Sagart.