Tullygarran Ogham Stones

The two Ogham Stones at Tullygarran originally came from Ballinrannig further west on the northern side of the Dingle Peninsula. They were discovered there in 1848 after a storm uncovered an ancient burial ground overlooking Smerwick Both stones were moved to Tullygarran by Lord Ventry in the 19^th century to decorate his residence at Chute Hall.

Ogham is an ancient Irish alphabet and 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. Ogham inscriptions were usually written vertically and are read from bottom to top. 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. 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, and in Cornwall and western England.

Both stones at Tullygarran are approximately 1metre tall. The inscription on the first has been transcribed as: LUBBAIS MAQQI DUN....S ("of Lubbais son of Dun...s"), the second reads CCICAMINI MAQQ(I) C(A)TTINI ("of Cíchmuine son of Caitne").

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