Provenance
Discovery: Sometime during 1864 a small fragment bearing the inscription ‘DINIS’ and followed by an ‘X’ was discovered in ‘a Cileen near the church of St. Olan’s, townland of Coolineagh, parish of Aghabulloge’ (Brash 1879, 131). Macalister (1945, 107) noted that the fragment belonged to Windele’s collection and ‘is probably one of several forgeries which Windele’s ogham “scouts” executed for his benefit’ as ‘“Denis” was the baptismal name of one of these worthies’.
Findspot: Coolineagh, Co. Cork, Ireland (approximate only ITM Coordinates: 543865, 578136)
Current repository: England Pitt-Rivers Museum, Oxford (inv. no. 1884.98.4)
Last recorded location(s): Donated to the Pitt-Rivers museum in Oxford in 1884.
Support
National Monuments Service SMR ID:
Object type: Fragment
Material: Clay slate
Dimensions: H 0.28 × W 0.15 × D 0.04 m
Condition: The stone is a tiny fragment which Macalister (1906, 166) and Brash (1879, 131-132) both believed to be a portion of a longer inscription on a larger stone because it is fractured on either end.
Inscription
Text field: Brash (1879, 131-132) provided the following description of the inscription: ‘The first character commences close on the fractured end, and may not have been complete. The stone is also fractured close to the last character, which is usually supposed to stand for EA, so that in all probability we have neither the beginning nor the ending of this inscription.’
Letters: Brash (1879, 131-132) and Macalister (1906, 166) have both previously suggested that the initial and final letters of the inscription might have been incomplete as a result of the fractures on the stone. Revising his assessment, Macalister (1945, 107) determined that the inscription was a forgery as it contains the personal name of one of Windele’s associates.
Edition
Ogham text: ᚇᚔᚅᚔᚄ
Transcription: DINIS
References
- Brash 1879, 131-132
- Macalister 1945, 107