Provenance
Discovery: Found by Windele before 1855 built into a low wall in the nave of the cathedral (Romanesque) at Ardmore (Fitzgerald 1855, 223-231). One of three ogham stones discovered at this site (see also I-WAT-002 and I-WAT-004). Other early features at Ardmore include St Declan’s oratory, a round tower and a graveyard, all within a D-shaped enclosure (dims. c. 200m N-S; c. 130m E-W; WA040-008023-).
Findspot: Ardmore (Aird Mhór), Ardocheasty (Ard Ó Séasta), Co. Waterford, Ireland (ITM Coordinates (approximate): 618842, 577448)
Current repository: Ireland National Museum of Ireland (inv. no. )
Last recorded location(s): National Museum of Ireland. Examined and 3d scanned by the Discovery Programme in August 2025 as part of the OG(H)AM project.
Support
National Monuments Service SMR ID: WA040-008006-
Object type: Fragment
Material: Sandstone
Dimensions: H 0.86 × W 0.30 × D 0.05 m
Condition: A fragment of an ogham stone reused as building material. Broken off at both ends and also split lengthways. As noted by Macalister (1945, 260) ‘the distal ends of all scores on the H-side have been lost’.
Inscription
Text field: The inscription along one angle is incomplete at both ends.
Letters: The strokes appear to be v-cut, rather than pocked. The consonant strokes, where they survive in full (on the B side: N and M), are long, narrow and tapering, with the vowel strokes on the angle distinctively shorter. The M stroke is quite evenly spaced between the flanking vowel strokes so that there is no distinctive word division evident.
Edition
Transcription: [---]ẠNACI MAQI[---]
Critical apparatus:
- The A preceding NACI could alternatively be the remains of an O, U, E or I.
Translation
of …nach son of ?
Commentary
The fragmentary first name is an adjectival formation with the suffix *‑āko- (OIr. -ach), either built on an n-stem noun, or on a thematic base with a stem in -n.
References
- Fitzgerald 1855, 226, 230-231
- Macalister 1945, 257-260
- Moore 1999, 197
- Rhys 1903, 381–386