Provenance
Discovery: The stone was first recorded by Windele in September 1848 at Kilfountan Church and Calluragh burial ground (Teampall Fionntain). This is a roughly D-shaped or sub-oval enclosure (41m N-S x 28m E-W) within which are also found the remains of a dry-stone oratory (in the SE sector) and rectangular hut and a bullaun stone (SMR ID: KE043-144002-).
Findspot: Kilfountan (Cill Fhiontain), Co. Kerry, Ireland (ITM coordinates: 442188, 603162)
Last recorded location(s): The stone remains in situ, set loosely into the W side of a mound of quartz which merges with the collapse from the NE corner of the oratory (Cuppage 1986, no. 849). It was recorded using photogrammetry for the Ogham in 3D project in 2016 by Emmy Van Den Berg, a participant on the Corca Dhuibhne 3D project.
Support
National Monuments Service SMR ID: KE043-144005-
Object type: Cross-carved pillar
Material: Grit
Dimensions: H 1.50 × W 0.25 × D 0.09 m
Decoration: Only the west face of this tall (tapering towards the base), slender pillar is decorated. ‘The upper part of this face contains an equal-armed cross set inside a circle; the cross has expanded terminals with the lower one joining on to the circle. Above the circle and joined to it by a small stem is a scrolled crest. Beneath the circle and separate from it is an elaborate design ending in a pelta motif. The design comprises a sunken field of inverted triangular shape with a concave upper edge. A short stem issues from its lower apex. At the left and right apices is a large incised oval with a pendant string looping to the outer edge of the stone. Also pendant from each apex is a line which runs down to form the pelta. In addition, two short lines curve upwards and outwards from the right oval towards the edge of the stone’ (Okasha and Forsyth 2001, 162).
Inscription
Text field: This is one of only two (or possibly three) biscriptal inspritions from Ireland, whereas biscriptial and bilingual inscriptions are very common in SW Britain. The fragmentary ogham inscription is on the lower part of the narrow south-east angle of the stone (right of the cross-carved face). The direction of the text is uncertain but it has tentatively been read upwards. As pointed out by Macalister (1937, 225), the strokes almost reach the whole width of this side but the inscription is probably up the left side of the uninscribed face rather than the right side of the inscribed face.The roman-letter inscription on this stone (also vertical) is beneath the cross design on the face, reading upwards with the bases of the letters to the viewer’s right. Macalister (1945, 179-180) read a preceeding line of text, parallel to the surviving line but reading in the opposite direction (downwards with the basses to the left). There are traces of what may have been lettering here but nothing is now legible (Okasha and Forsyth 2001, 162).
Letters: The ogham inscription is pocked with the surviving strokes taking up almost all of the narrow side (H aicme) of the stone. The strokes of the Q are more tightly spaced than the other consonant(s). The inscription on the face is in Latin half-uncial script and, like the cross design, is cut rather than pocked. The letters vary in size with the uncial E noticably larger (75mm) than the other letters (Okasha and Forsyth 2001, 162). The Ns are quite slender and the T is curved. Only a single stroke remains of what was reasonably read by Macalister as an F. According to Macalister (1945, 179-180), the first line read downwards and the F was carved horizontally rather than vertically ‘as though to form a pivot on which the two lines of the inscription hinge’.
Edition
Transcription: [---]EQỌḌḌ[I(?)]
Critical apparatus:
There is no trace remaining of Macalister’s (1945, 179-180) final I in the ogham inscription. Macalister’s DD depends on very subtle spacing between the two sets of two strokes each. This could be read as a C.
The chi-rho (☧) and SCI read by Macalister (1945, 179-180) on the face of the stone to the left of FINTEN is no longer legible.
Translation
Half uncial inscription: [St] Fintan
Commentary
The ogham and roman alphabet inscriptions appear to be unrelated and the two do not impinge on one another. While it is impossible to be certain, it would seem that an ogham stone was later re-purposed as an inscribed cross-slab (Okasha and Forsyth 2001, 163-164).
The form of the cross design has many parallels on the Dingle and Iveragh Peninsulas, assigned by Henry (1937, 279) to the sixth and seventh centuries.
‘The spelling Finten for the later Fintan is consevative and implies a comparatively early date, perhaps seventh or early-eighth century… While it is possible that a later reading of the text may have inspired the dedication of Kilfountan/Cill Fionntain, it is more likely that the text is a dedicatory one, recording the donation or dedication of the site to the eponymous saint, although to which of the many St Fintans is not known’ (Okasha and Forsyth 2001, 163-164).
References
- Cuppage 1986, no. 849
- Henry 1937, 279
- Macalister 1937, 221-227
- Macalister 1945, 179-180
- Okasha and Forsyth 2001, 161-165