Dunloe Ogham Stones, Archaeological collection of Celtic stones near Beaufort, Ireland
Dunloe Ogham Stones is a collection of at least eight standing stones with carved inscriptions positioned along the road leading from the Gap of Dunloe toward Beaufort. Each stone bears Ogham patterns, an early Irish script dating from around the 5th century.
The stones were carved in the 5th and 6th centuries AD as burial markers. Seven were found in 1838 forming the ceiling of a souterrain near Dunloe Castle and were moved to their current site by 1945. An eighth stone came from the ruined church at Kilbonane.
The inscriptions are formulaic: a name in the genitive followed by MAQI ("son of") and, on several stones, MUCOI TOICACI, "descendant of Toicacas", a reference to the Tóecraige. The name CUNACENA on the Kilbonane stone means "dog-head". Ogham is read along the stone's edge, with notches grouped in fives.
The stones sit along the road to the Gap of Dunloe south of Beaufort and are fairly easy to reach when visiting the valley. The site is open to the public, but weather in this hilly area can change quickly, so visitors should be prepared for rain.
The central stone, CIIC 241, came from the ruined church at Kilbonane, southwest of the site on the R569. Its inscription is not CUNACENA: that name, meaning "dog-head", is on CIIC 199, one of the seven stones found in 1838 in a souterrain ceiling at Coolmagort.
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