Ogham stone in Coolmagort

A total of seven ogham stones were incorporated into a Man-made underground passage (KE065-078----), marked ‘Cave’ on the OS maps, discovered in 1838 by workmen building a field boundary across a slight rise in Dunloe Castle demesne... It was roofed by nine slabs, six of which bore ogham inscriptions. One of the larger ogham stones had cracked in antiquity and was supported by a seventh, which stood upright in the Man-made underground passage passage. A number of bones and skulls, some of which were reputedly human, were found in the Man-made underground passage. In 1940 the ogham stones were removed from the site by the OPW, and were erected close to a public roadway nearby. The Man-made underground passage was subsequently filled back and no surface trace remains. (4) This stone (present location KE065-041004-) stands 1.3m high, and is up to .45m in width and .lm in thickness. Prior to its use as a lintel its inscribed face was damaged, resulting in the loss of all vowel-notches and scores on this surface. The remaining scores along the edge and top of the stone were interpreted by Macalister (1945, 195, no. 201) as: ...MC...GE...M..Q...D...E. Neither the second M nor the E, which is apparently represented by the forfid symbol, are now clearly visible. (O'Sullivan and Sheehan 1996, no. 863) This stone has been studied as part of the ‘Ogham in 3D’ project undertaken by the School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. To access details go to the following website: http://ogham.celt.dias.ie/search.php?ciic=201 Compiled by: Nora White Date of upload: 13 February 2017