Ogham stone

The National Monuments Service's description

Discovered in 2006 among stones removed from a roadside boundary. The stone currently in private possession on this site. ‘The ogham inscription is carved on an oblong sandstone fragment which measures 42 cm (max.) in length, 14 cm in width on its broad fare and 10 cm on the narrow. The remains of seven ogham scores are visible running along the angle between the broad and narrow faces This angle or the stone acted as the arris or stemline, with respect to which the ogham scores were incised. As it is only a fragment and as the inscribed angle of the stone is worn and damaged it is not possible to get a name from the few scores that survive. Furthermore, the wear on the stone has removed the surface elements of the writing and only the inner or lower part of each score survives. Because of this some of the original lettering has completely disappeared while in other parts only a hint of a vowel notch or consonant stroke survives. The wear on the broad race is more pronounced and this may indicate that it was eroded in antiquity when the fragment was part of an inscribed pillar stone. The visible ogham scores begin 12 cm from the end of the fragment, with a consonant stroke running for a length of 4 cm to the left of the stemline. A spall on the edge of the stone just below this makes it impossible to say whether this score began at the edge or whether an M-score crossed it originally. The spall has also removed any trace of writing on the lower part of the stone. There is a hint of a vowel notch 2 cm above the first score and further damage to the stone beyond this may have removed related vowel notches. Just over 4 cm above the vowel notch a group of four strokes cross the stemline and traces of another consonant stroke are visible beyond this on the angle and on the broad face of the stone. This group of four strokes crossing the stemline may represent a double M or if the last stroke was also part of the group, the letter R. While this is all that can be read on the stone, the lettering clearly conforms to the pattern of ogham writing and while the scoring may appear to be slightly irregular this can be explained by the wear on the stone and the fact that the lettering would have originally been much deeper with the result that the unevenness in line length and straightness would have been far less pronounced than it is today.’

The above description has been derived from G. Eogan and F. Moore 2008 A fragement of an Iron-Age quern and an ogham stone. Peritia 20, p. 300.

Compiled by: Paul Walsh

Date of upload: 27 August 2012

References

Eogan, G. and Moore, F. 2008 A fragement of an Iron-Age quern and an ogham stone. Peritia 20, 297-314.