Provenance
Discovery: This stone was found at the remains of an early monastic settlement (Inis Meic Oíbléin) at the south-east end of the island of Inishvickillane. ‘The site, although apparently lacking formal enclosure, comprises the ruins of a dry-stone oratory, a graveyard, a leacht [and stone cross], a possible beehive hut-sit, and a holy well dedicated to St Brendan’ (Okasha and Forsyth 2001, 156). Macalister (1949, 44) also recorded ‘an inscribed stone lying on the S wall of the oratory but this is now missing. It bore a small cross followed by the inscription: OR DO MAC RUED U DALAC[H]’ ‘A prayer for Mac-Ruaid, grandson of Dálach’. A second stone inscribed with a ‘plain cross of two lines’ lay within the graveyard (Macalister 1902, 46; Cuppage et al, 1986, 301). There is some disaggreement regrading who first discovered the ogham stone. According to Brash (1879, 226; see also Rhys 1903, 80), it was Windele [c.1849] and according to Graves (1878, 41; see also Macalister 1945, 178) it was Hitchcock who made the discovery. Nevertheless, accounts agree that the cross-carved ogham stone lay in front of the oratory at this time but by 1901 it had been placed as a lintel in that building (Macalister 1902, 44) and in 1902 it was removed to Trinity College, Dublin (Cuppage et al, 1986, 301).
Findspot: Inishvickillane (Inis Mhic Aoibhleáin), Co. Kerry, Ireland (ITM coordinates: 421241, 591216)
Current repository: Ireland Trinity College Dublin (inv. no. )
Last recorded location(s): Now on display in the library of Trinity College Dublin where it was examined and recorded in 3D in collaboration with the Discovery Programme in 2014 as part of the Ogham in 3D project.
Support
National Monuments Service SMR ID: KE061-006008-
Object type: Cross-carved pillar
Material: Slate
Dimensions: H 1.05 × W 0.15 × D 0.18 m
Decoration: Each of the four faces has a cross of different form. A plain Latin cross is carved on each of two opposed narrower faces. A third face bears a swastika motif, elongated to resemble a cross; the crossing of the arms and shaft is enclosed by a square. The fourth face bears a Latin cross, the head and shaft of which bifurcate to form triangular terminals. The junction of shaft and arms is formed by a square and the arms by equilateral triangles attached to each side of this; each of these triangles is divided by a line into two right-angles.
Condition: The inscribed stone has suffered much flaking and, according to Macalister (1945, 179), ‘intentional mutilation’, especially the H aicme (to the left of the stem-line/arris). Rhys (1903, 81. fn 1) describes the stone as ‘a laminated clay slate from the Lower Silurian beds, the surface of which is showing a tendancy to split along the lines of stratification, and, as usual in stone of this formation, there is transverse cleavage, which will cause further disintegration’. When last seen it was attached to the display stand by a metal bracket.
Inscription
Text field: The ogham inscription (inverted with respect to the crosses) runs up on the dexter (left) edge of one of the slightly narrower faces.
Letters: The inscription is scored in very fine ‘knife cuts’, of the kind common in Co. Cork (Macalister 1945, 179), unlike the crosses which are pocked.
Edition
Transcription: [---]ḄḄ[.. ? .. A(?)]VI ṾḶ[AT]IAṂI ṂA[Q---]
Critical apparatus:
- Regarding a possible inital name, Macalister (1945, 179) says that ‘everything but the two B’s is flaked away: I do not agree with Rhys in including these among some modern graffiti which have been inflicted on the stone’. He continues that the VL of VLATIAMI is ‘hardly distinguishable from an N, which latter was my reading when I first saw the stone in its former position in the island oratory. The T is reduced to tiny pin-scrapes: the Q is visible only in a strong cross-light. Rhys found a G near the top of the stone : this I could not identify’. The T and the Q are no longer evident. 2. Macalister (1945, 179) read: [CO]BB[A?] AVI VLATIAMI MAQ[ 3. Brash (1879, 226) supplied ᚃᚅᚇᚔᚐᚁᚔᚁᚑ ᚈ (VNDIABIBO T)
References
- Cuppage 1986, 301
- Graves 1878, 41-46
- Macalister 1902, 44, 46
- Macalister 1945, 178-179
- Okasha and Forsyth 2001, 156
- Rhys 1903, 79-87
- Ziegler 1994, 249