The Ballaqueeney Ogham Stone is an early medieval memorial stone with an
Ogham inscription
Roughly 400 known ogham inscriptions are on stone monuments scattered around the Irish Sea, the bulk of them dating to the fifth and sixth centuries. Their language is predominantly Primitive Irish, but a few examples record fragments of the ...
.
It was discovered at
Ballaqueeney (Ballaquine)
Isle of Man
)
, anthem = " O Land of Our Birth"
, image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg
, image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg
, mapsize =
, map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe
, map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green)
in Europ ...
in 1874 by Reverend F. B. Grant during the process of excavating dirt for use as railroad ballast.
The stone was kept in a garden in Ballaqueeney from its discovery until about 1885. This caused the stone surface to deteriorate, due to being exposed to wind and rain, with the result that two Ogham letters can no longer be read.
noted that "the grooves are finely cut with a V-shaped section" and "the scores forming the consonants for the most part are 2 inches in length...there are no traces of divisional points; but there are longer spaces between the words than between the letters".
The stones are now located at the
Manx Museum in
Douglas
Douglas may refer to:
People
* Douglas (given name)
* Douglas (surname)
Animals
* Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking
* Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civi ...
where it has the catalogue number "MM 2".
Macalister reads the Ogham inscription as meaning "
toneof Bivaidonas, son of the tribe of Cunavali".
F. J. Byrne suggests that the personal name Bivaidonas is related to the
Conailli Muirtheimne
Conaille Muirthemne was a Cruithin kingdom located in County Louth, Ireland, from before 688 to after 1107 approximately.
Overview
The Ulaid according to historian Francis John Byrne 'possibly still ruled directly in Louth as far as the Boyne in ...
of north
Louth and south
Down
Down most often refers to:
* Down, the relative direction opposed to up
* Down (gridiron football), in American/Canadian football, a period when one play takes place
* Down feather, a soft bird feather used in bedding and clothing
* Downland, a ty ...
.
D. McManus notes that the tribal name Cunavali could refer to either an Irish or a British tribe.
References
{{Reflist, colwidth=33em
External links
Manx national heritageThe Manx Museum in Douglas, Isle of Man
Ogham inscriptions
History of the Isle of Man
1874 archaeological discoveries
1874 in the Isle of Man