Provenance
Discovery: Brash (1879, 254) notes that he saw the stone ‘broken across’ and lying alone in the centre of the enclosure, which is situated just below the summit of a gentle NE-facing slope, with sea cliffs c. 130m to the S. This is probably an early ecclesiastical site (SMR ID: WA032-029001-). The enclosure is a large, grass-covered circular area (diam. 85.5m E-W; 83.5m N-S) defined by an overgrown earthen field bank with internal and external stone-facing. The entrance at W is possibly modern (NMS database, SMR ID: WA032-029001-). Brash (1879, 253) and Westropp (1906, 250) also both mention a local tradition that there was a killeen (unbaptised children’s burial ground) at the site.
Findspot: Island (An tOileán), Co. Waterford, Ireland (ITM Coordinates (approximate): 610460, 591390)
Last recorded location(s): Remains in situ, lying just inside the perimeter close to the modern entrance with a small cross-carved stone (SMR ID: WA032-029004-) lying beside it. Examined and recorded in 3D by Discovery Programme in 2012 as part of the Ogham in 3D project.
Support
National Monuments Service SMR ID: WA032-029002
Object type: Slab
Material: Sandstone
Dimensions: H 1.78 × W 0.48 × D 0.15 m
Condition: The stone is broken into two fragments and quite weathered.
Inscription
Text field: Inscribed up-top-down clockwise. ‘Commencing on the left angle, 2’ 6” (0.76m) from the base’ (Brash 1879, 254)
Letters: The inscription has been pocked in quite bold strokes. The vowel strokes, where they survive, are distinctively notched or wedge-shaped.
Date: First half of early second half of the fifth century A.D. (linguistic)
Edition
Ogham text: ᚉᚒᚅ[ᚐ]ᚅᚓᚈᚐᚄ ᚋᚐᚊᚔ ᚋᚒᚉ[ᚑᚔ] ᚅᚓᚈᚐᚄᚓᚌᚐᚋᚑᚅᚐᚄ
Transcription: CUN[A]NETAS MAQI MUC[OI] NETASEGAMONAS
Critical apparatus:
- As McManus indicates in his reading, there is space for an expected A between the two Ns of CUN[A]NETAS. It makes more sense to read MM than G (Macalister’s reading) for the two strokes before UC[OI] (McManus 1991 7, 94).
Translation
of Conda son of the descendant of Nad-Segamon
Commentary
This is one of the inscriptions listed by McManus (1991, 93-4) to be among the earliest in the corpus, with pre-apocope -as endings and showing no trace of vowel affection. It may be dated to the first half, or the early second half, of the fifth century (McManus 1991, 97). The personal name CUN[A]NETAS (OIr. Conda for Conne) contains the commonly occuring element CUNA- and may be translated ‘champion of wolves’ (McManus 1991, 102, 106).
The inscription continues on the second angle with a kin group or sept name, MUC[OI] NETASEGAMONAS ‘the kin of Nad-Segamon (‘champion of *Segamū’)’. It is noteworthy that a Nia Segamon is listed in the historical sources as a prehistoric king of Cashel and that his ‘supposed grandson, Lugaid Luaigni, is also listed as a prehistoric king of Munster and Ireland’ (Bhreathnach 2014, 43-44). Although it is impossible to say for certain, it may be that this inscription commemorates this important king. The fact that MUCOI NETASEGAMONAS is also found on an ogham stone at nearby Ardmore (I-WAT-002) and possibly also Knockboy (I-WAT-033) may suggest that this was a dynasty which controlled the area of west Waterford in the 5th century.
References
- Brash 1879, 253-254
- Westropp 1906, 250-251
- Macalister 1945, 290
- McManus 1991, 93-4, 97, 102, 106
- Moore 1999, 197