Ogam Stone, Monataggart, Co. Cork.
The number of Ogams discovered (including fragments and lost stones) is now about 270, and these are chiefly confined to the south of Ireland; but it is significant, as Dr. Rhys points out, that the most recent discoveries are in Ulster and Mayo. The county of Kerry furnishes nearly one-half the entire number, the barony of Corkaguiny being the richest in these remains of antiquity. There are nine in the burial-ground at Ballintaggart, near Dingle, and collections have been made at Burnham House (Lord Ventry), and at Parknasilla. The finest yet formed, numbering thirty, is in the National Museum, Dublin. The stones vary in form: most are tall and tapering, of a somewhat pyramidal shape; many are flags; some are amorphous monoliths; and others are rounded, especially those on the shores of the Dingle peninsula, which were probably worn by the action of the Atlantic waves. Ogam stones appear always to have been set up in the rough state, as those found present no appearance of having been cut into shape. Standing above the ground, they vary in height from 3 to about 19 feet. The scores commence at some distance from the foot of the stone, so that it is evident that the blocks, whether now prostrate or not, were originally intended to stand upright.
Ogam stones to the number of 54 exist in Great Britain, the cipher being identical with that of the Irish inscriptions. Of these South Wales has 25, Scotland 16, south-west of England 5, and the Isle of Man 6. Most of the Welsh and south-west stones have Roman lettering of a rude type which points to the early Christian period, when there was close intercourse between the Irish and Welsh Churches. One of the Welsh stones is of considerable importance, as it furnished an efficient test to the truth of the key to the cipher in the Book of Ballymote, and as demonstrated independently by Dr. Graves. This stone is at St. Dogmael’s, near Cardigan; it contains an Ogam inscription, and another in Roman letters. A copy of the former was sent to Dr. Graves, whose reading was practically identical with the Roman lettering which he had not seen. On a close examination of the stone, traces of the vowel a, which had been cut by a crack and absent in the copy of the cipher, were discovered, and the truth of his reading thus wholly verified.
Besides marking burial and other sites, Ogam stones are found in all kinds of situations: in souterrains, in some fourteen of which Ogam stones have been discovered; in drains and other field uses; and in the walls of churches and other buildings. In the underground chamber of Dunloe there are seven Ogam stones; in Drumloghan, Co. Waterford, ten; and on the stones forming the roof of a drain at Ballyknock, Co. Cork, there are fifteen inscriptions. When their original use had long been forgotten, they were evidently taken from their sites and converted into such building or farm purposes as the occasion required.
The Ogam character was sometimes used in other material than that of stone. There is MS. evidence, as we have mentioned, of its having been applied to wood, which was doubtless the material first used for the purpose; and examples occur in bone, amber, gold, silver, and lead. Of these are the Conyngham gold manilla, the authenticity of the characters of which was, however, doubted by Dr. Graves; a silver brooch found in 1806 at Ballyspellan (Co. Kilkenny), and which is considered to date from the end of the eleventh or beginning of the twelfth century. The specimen in lead was discovered by Mr. Wakeman in 1844; the little vessel upon which the scores appeared was then in use as an ink-bottle. It is interesting not only from the legend being in relief, which goes to establish its genuineness, but also from the circumstance of its discovery in Kilmallock, the name of which place it gives. The characters are in two lines, and, if read from the bottom upwards, give the words: ‘Nig-Lasmeich,’ and ‘Cill Mocholmog.’ The object on which they occur is a narrow, quadrangular vessel, one inch and three-eighths in height, with sides converging upwards, and with a low, small, circular neck. The Ogam character, in one form or another, was sometimes used as a charm, as in the case of the amber bead belonging to a family of the O’Connors, near Ennis, Co. Clare; or, as shown by Bishop Graves, for purposes of divination.
Archæologists are not yet agreed on all matters relating to Ogams. The varied opinions as to the readings of most inscriptions, the somewhat uninteresting and meagre details of all, the doubt hitherto as to whether they are cryptic or not, the great difficulty of identifying them through the medium of Irish written records, limit the interest and check inquiry in this particular field of archæological research. But Dr. Stokes and Dr. Rhys have established their non-cryptic character, and shown their exceptional value from a philological point of view. Doubt, too, has long been thrown on their antiquity. Brash and others claim for them a pre-Christian origin; but recent authorities, such as Dr. Rhys, do not consider them earlier than the introduction of Christianity into the British Isles. It has been well urged by Bishop Graves that the division of the alphabet into vowels and consonants ‘furnishes internal evidence of its having been contrived by persons possessing some grammatical knowledge, and acquainted with alphabets of the ordinary kind.’ Other questions arise, such as the presence of the Christian emblem on many stones, the number standing in church burial-grounds, and their presence in caves, from which various deductions have been drawn. It has been urged by the claimants for the pagan origin of Ogams, that it was the custom of the early missionaries to convert things identified with heathen uses to Christian purposes, and to mark such objects as these stones with the sacred symbol of the Cross. A consideration of these questions would lead us too far afield, and not necessarily lead to a final judgment on any of the points at issue. It is sufficient, however, to say that the internal evidence of the alphabet, and the affinity of the Irish unilingual Ogams to the bilingual stones of Wales, are in themselves highly presumptive of their dating within, and not without, the period marking the establishment of Christianity in Ireland.
CHAPTER VI.
RATHS AND STONE FORTS.
RATHS AND DUNS—SUBTERRANEAN CHAMBERS—SOUTERRAIN IN GURTEEN RATH—TARA—EMANIA—RATH OF DOWNPATRICK—HILL OF WARD—NAAS RATH—CASHELS—CLOCHAUNS OR BEE-HIVE HUTS—STAIGUE FORT—CAHERCONREE—CLARE FORTS—DUN AENGUS—THE DINGLE FORTS AND CLOCHAUNS—DUNAMOE—INISMURRAY—GRIANAN OF AILEACH—GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
The wooden huts or wicker and clay dwellings of the primitive inhabitants of Ireland were quick to decay; but the raths, lisses, duns, and cashels, the remains of their camps and fortresses, exist all over the country, dotting many a plain or valley, and crowning many a hill. Whatever distinction originally existed between the terms rath and Lios or Lis, they are now commonly applied to fortified dwelling-places. Though they were generally used to signify the earthen rampart round the enclosure on which the dwellings were built, ‘both are,’ says Dr. Joyce, ‘not unfrequently applied to the great high entrenched mounds which are commonly designated by the word Dun.’[75]