Provenance
Discovery: Discovered in 1846 by Cork antiquarians Windele, Abell, and Hawkes in a souterrain (CO085-067002-) in the SW quadrant of a ringfort (CO085-067001-), with five other ogham stones: I-COR-046, I-COR-047, I-COR-048, I-COR-049 and I-COR-051. In 1849 Windele removed five of the stones, including this one, to his own residence (Blair’s Castle, Cork) but they were later moved to the museum of the Royal Irish Academy (Brash 1879, 140; Macalister 1945, 92-93).
Findspot: Ballyhank (Baile Sheanc), Co. Cork, Ireland (ITM Coordinates: 557971, 564534)
Current repository: Ireland National Museum of Ireland (inv. no. 1872.2)
Last recorded location(s): All six stones from Ballyhank are now in the collection of the National Museum of Ireland. This stone was recorded in 3D in 2015 as part of the Ogham in 3D project in collaboration with the Discovery Programme.
Support
National Monuments Service SMR ID: CO085-067007-
Object type: Pillar
Material: Siltstone
Dimensions: H 1.46 × W 0.52 × D 0.42 m
Condition: Reused as a lintel in a souterrain, ‘the stone is rough and irregular, and it is difficult to discriminate between letters and natural markings on its surface’ (Macalister 1945, 100).
Inscription
Text field: The inscription is ‘inscribed on the dexter angle of the main face, running over the top diagonally, and down the dexter angle of the parallel face’ of the stone (Macalister 1945, 98). Macalister (1945, 100) also describes what he calls ‘ogham graffito’ in the middle of the B-surface.
Letters: The inscription is coarsely pocked in bold, well-spaced strokes. Macalister’s ‘graffito’ is impossible to decipher (or even to be sure of) considering the roughness of the stone.
Edition
Ogham text: ᚋᚐᚊᚔᚓᚄᚓᚐ [ᚋᚐᚊᚔ] ᚇ̣ᚑᚋᚐᚅ̣ᚓᚊᚔ
Transcription: MAQIESEA [MAQ]I ḌOMAṆEQI
Critical apparatus:
- DOMANEQI may be an error for DOMANENI. Considering its location on the stone, as the inscription turns downwards from the top, the carver may have confused the orientation of the scores, as seen in other examples (e.g. I-KER-012 Arraglen, Co. Kerry).
Translation
of Mac-Es? son of Domnach?
Commentary
The personal names in this inscription do not seem to be attested elsewhere in the ogham corpus.
References
- Macalister 1945, 98-100
- Power, Byrne, Egan, Lane, and Sleeman 1997, no. 7952
- Ziegler 1994, 168, 180