6 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



The legend commences at twelve inches from the bottom with the 

 word Haqi extended to the top, and partially on the head, as follows : — 



r/- 



X 



im mi inn 



The first, second, and third letters are quite distinct, excepting one 

 score of the Q,, which is faint ; the I is also imperfect, owing to the 

 damaged state of the angle ; we have the X character between two 

 vowels, suggesting some donbt as to the value assigned to this charac- 

 ter in the " Book of Eallymote" — namely, the diphthong EA. The Q, 

 is on the top front angle ; the rest of the letters are illegible. 



There is no Christian symbol on this stone, neither is it held in any 

 reverence by the peasantry, as far as I could ascertain. It had evidently 

 been refixed at some remote period, as the scores on the concealed part 

 were fresher and more legible than those exposed, which latter ap- 

 peared to have suffered much more from violence than exposure to the 

 weather. Prom this concealment of so considerable a portion of the 

 inscription, it is also evident that it was placed in its present position 

 by those unacquainted with the nature of the characters ; it was also 

 fixed with great care and labour, very probably as a memorial to some 

 person, long subsequent to its original appropriation. Here there is 

 no trace of a church, either in memory or tradition. Mr. Keating, 

 Jun., informed me that he remembered the fence round the cilleen 

 complete ; and that there were a number of long stones standing about 

 it, which were broken up, and built into the field walls, and otherwise 

 disposed of ; the fence had been levelled by his father. He informed 

 me that it had been always called Cilltera, and that the farm is also 

 named from the cilleen ; also, that the stones I have been describing 

 were there as long as the oldest inhabitant can remember, and that a 

 man aged eighty years had informed his father, that they had been in 

 the same place since he was a boy. The ogham marks on the upper 

 part of the stone were first noticed by Mr. Edward Fitzgerald, of 

 Youghal, in May, 1861. Kiltera was subsequently visited by Mr. 

 Windele, of Cork. The only copy of the inscription I have seen was 

 by the latter gentleman, and was very defective, consisting of only 

 three letters of the left angle, and two of the right ; this was owing 

 principally, I believe, to his not having excavated at the bottom of 

 the stone, and, therefore, not being cognizant of the concealed letters. 

 As far as I have been able to ascertain, I believe that mine was the 

 first complete copy ever taken ; being convinced from the statements 

 made by Mr. Keating, as well as from the difficulty I experienced in 

 opening the ground, it had never been disturbed. Its interest con- 

 sists in the confirmatory evidence it affords of the identification of two 

 names found on other monuments, in a locality far remote ; in its being 

 found in close connexion with what was evidently a kistvaen, and 

 within the fence of a cemetery of the pagan age. Kiltera is probably 



