Provenance
Discovery: Re-used as building material (corner stone/quoin) in a now ruined structure called Legan Castle. ‘First noticed in 1891 by Mr. John Moore, of Columbkill in the county, who had previously discovered the Churchclara inscription’ (Macalister 1945, 38). According to Barry (1896, 126), the ogham stone ‘projected in relief from a wall at Legan Castle, until the fall of that wall a few years ago’. Some time after 1945 it was set in concrete at the front of the remains of the castle. Legan Castle Farmhouse is now a guesthouse at which the castle ruins, including the re-erected ogham stone, are preserved. The townland name (An Liagán) contains the element lia (also: liag) ‘stone, pillar-stone’, which perhaps refers to this moument.
Findspot: Legan (An Liagán), Co. Kilkenny, Ireland (ITM Coordinates: 656787 , 642925)
Last recorded location(s): In situ in front of Legan castle, where it was recorded in 3d (in collaboration with Digital Heritage Age) in June 2020 as an action of the County Kilkenny Heritage Plan Programme, funded by the Heritage Office of Kilkenny County Council and the Heritage Council.
Support
National Monuments Service SMR ID: KK028-026002-
Object type: Pillar
Material: Sandstone
Dimensions: H 2.03 × W 0.51 × D 0.42 m
Decoration: According to Macalister (1945, 39), a plain cross is pocked on the inscribed face of the stone but this is quite weathered and unclear.
Inscription
Text field: The inscription runs up-top-down.
Letters: The inscription is extremely weathered and worn but appears to be pocked. The traces of strokes that survive are quite short and tightly spaced. The L and B srokes (if read correctly) appear to be slanted.
Edition
Ogham text: ᚂᚑ̣ᚁᚁ[ᚔ] ᚕ
Transcription: LỌBB[I] KOI MAQQỊ MUC[COI] RINI
Critical apparatus:
- Barry (1896, 126):LOBB[I] KOI MAQQI MUCCỌỊ ỊRẸỊ 2. McManus (1991, 67):[..]LL[…]MAQQ[..]m[..]C[…]
Translation
of Lob? (here?) son of the descendant of Renn?
Commentary
If Barry’s and Macalister’s reading is correct with LOBBI, this may be an example of the element LOBA- found in other ogham inscriptions, for example, LOBACCONA from Dromore, Co. Waterford (I-WAT-005). This element may be related to OIr. Lobur/Lobor ‘weak’. Although much less certain, if the ancestor name Macalister read as RINI is correct, it may be equated with the word renn ‘swift, fast’ and it is tempting to compare a possible MUCCOI RINI with Moccu-Rin in Hogan’s Onomasticon (S. 540) (Ziegler 1994, 111, 194, 225).
References
- Barry 1896, 126
- Macalister 1945, 38-39
- McManus 1991, 54, 67
- Ziegler 1994, 111, 194, 225