Provenance
Discovery: Site of church and old burial gound (An Cheallúnach or An Lisín). ‘This circular enclosure crowns the summit of a low, but prominent, hillock between Dingle Harbour and Trabeg. The site of a church is shown within the enclosure on the OS maps, but nothing more is known about this, and no visible trace survives. Children were still being interred there in the burial ground in the mid-19th century’ (Cuppage et al 1986, 264). The current stone enclosure, approximately 30m in diameter, is ‘only a portion of the original site and was built up by a landlord sometime prior to 1847’ (Devane 2001, 372). Macalister (1945, 151-7) recorded nine ogham stones collected together at the site. These ‘mostly pulvinar’ or oval water-rolled boulders resemble the stones found ‘about 6 miles away’ at Minard storm beach. Eight of the nine stones are now arranged in a circle within the stone enclosure with the ninth placed centrally. Apart from the ogham stones, the interior consists of ‘a confusion of low mounds and low upright grave markers’ (Cuppage et al 1986, 264). A tenth ogham stone was discovered in the 1980’s but only protrudes 24cm above the ground (Devane 2001, 369). This stone came from the cairn or the nearby ‘tombs’ (Cuppage et al 1986, 265) in the townland of Ballintaggart and barony of Corkaguiney. First mentioned by Vallancey in 1804 (Macalister 1945, 151).
Findspot: Ballintaggart (Baile an tSagairt), Co. Kerry, Ireland (ITM coordinates (approximate): 446414, 599691)
Last recorded location(s): in situ (inside modern enclosure)
Support
National Monuments Service SMR ID: KE053-033010-
Object type: Cross-carved pulvinar pillar
Material: Sandstone
Dimensions: H 1.07 × W 0.41 × D 0.20 m
Decoration: ‘The upper face of the stone bears an unusual cross motif. The ends of the side arms take the form of a trident or 3-pronged fork, the arms themselves forming the middle prong. A short cross-bar directly below the end of the upper arm gives the impression of a small cross here. The lower arm has a bifurcated terminal and a short detached groove continues the line of the arm between the 2 prongs’ (Cuppage et al 1986, 265).
Condition: More extensive weathering of the stones on one side, but inscription in fair condition.
Inscription
Text field: Up-up and possibly seperate texts.
Letters: Pocked and rubed with quite long vowel strokes. The strokes on the sinister edge are broader and bolder than those on the right. This, along with the up-up layout, suggests that these are two seperate texts.
Edition
Transcription: 1. TRIA MAQA MAILAGNI | 2. CURCITTI
Translation
of the three sons of Máelán
of Cuircthe
Commentary
This is one of the inscriptions listed by McManus (1991, 93-94) to be among the earliest in the corpus 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).
TRIA MAQA MAILAGNI appears to be an example of the genative plural. ‘One might have expected TRIAM MAQAM MAILAGNI but as Ogam does not use double consonants in a regular way the reading as it stands need not postdate the transfer of a final nasal across word boundary’ (McManus 1991, 117, 176, note 38).
McManus (1991, 176, note 38) concurs with Macalister (1945, 155) that ‘this inscription is accompanied on the other side of the stone by a single name CURCITTI which to judge by the nature of execution of the scores and the direction of writing appears to be unrelated’.
References
- Bennett, Uí Shíthigh, Holden, and Ó Bric 1995, 18
- Cuppage 1986, 264-266
- Devane 2001, 369-372
- Macalister 1945, 151, 154-155
- McManus 1991, 65, 93-4, 97, 107, 108, 117, 176