190 



Proceedings of the Royal Irish Acadenn 



V- 



XXIX. — On an Ogham-inscribed Stone from: Mount Music, Co. Cork 

 By R. R. Brash, Mill. 



[Read February 23, 1874.] 



This interesting monument, represented 

 in the annexed engraving, from iny 

 drawing, was discovered by the late 

 Mr. John Windele, of Cork, standing 

 in a small rocky field on the townland 

 of Knockourane (Cnoc-oran, i. e., "the 

 Hill of Song"), in the parish of Kil- 

 michael, about five miles south-west of 

 Macroom. The locality will be found 

 on the Ordnance Survey Map, sheet 

 Xo. 82. Mr. "Windele' s first information 

 of this stone was received from the Rev. 

 M. O'Driscoll, P.R, in the year 1845. 

 In that year he visited it, accompanied 

 by the late Mr. Abraham Abell, M.R.I. A. 

 and again in 1848. It was subsequently 

 purchased by Mr. Windele, from the 

 farmer on whose ground it stood, and 

 was removed to his residence at Cork. 

 It is now in the possession of his 

 widow. 



It is a nearly square pillar of close, 

 hard-grained clay-slate, five feet two 

 inches in length, and nine inches by 

 eight inches at the centre. The angles 

 are not sharp, being slightly rounded, 

 probably from weather wear and the 

 rubbing of cattle. The inscription oc- 

 cupies one angle, commencing at eight 

 inches from the bottom of the stone, and 

 is continued close to the top. It consists of 

 twenty-five letters, all perfectly legible, 

 with the exception of the second last, 

 the vowel A, which is worn and faintly 

 expressed. The characters were origi- 

 nally broadly and deeply cut. This, 

 and the extreme hardness of the material, 

 will account for the present good con- 

 dition of an inscription which appears 

 to have always stood in the open air. 



There can be no doubt but that the . 

 engravers of Ogham inscriptions had a 

 thorough knowledge of the nature of the 

 material on which they worked, as they 



