Ballycrovane Ogham Stone

Ballycrovane Ogham Stone is a pillar of stone measuring 4.7metres tall, with ogham inscriptions carved onto it. Ogham is an ancient Irish alphabet and is our earliest written source for the Irish language. The ogham alphabet uses a script made of lines cut on, across, or either side of a central 'stem' line. These inscriptions were usually written vertically and are read from bottom to top.

These ogham stones appear to have been erected either as memorials or territorial markers and usually record the name of a person with a standard formula such as: “X son of Y, member of the tribe of Z”. Although the alphabet was designed for the Irish language, a few Latin inscriptions in ogham also survive in Ireland such as the one on this Ballycrovane stone: MAQI-DECCADDAS-AVI-TURANIAS (of Mac-Deichet Uí Thorna).

There are about 400 surviving ogham inscriptions; approximately 350 of these are in Ireland, with the largest number of ogham stones located in counties Cork, Kerry and Waterford. Around 50 ogham inscriptions have been discovered in Britain with ogham stones located in Wales, Scotland, The Isle of Mann, as well as Cornwall and western England.  The Ballycrovane Ogham Stone is the tallest known ogham stone and was probably carved between 300 – 600 AD.

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This national monument is protected in accordance with the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014