CIIC 299. Knockboy VIII, Co. Waterford

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National Monuments Service Record Number: WA013-034015-

The parish church of Seskinan (WA013-034001-) was probably built on the site of an earlier church. There were traces of an ecclesiastical enclosure in the field to the S and within the graveyard (Brash 1868-9, 127; Power 1898, 84), but this is no longer evident. There is also the site of Toberatemple Well (WA013-032001-) c. 250m to the W (Power 1898, 83). The church is an undifferentiated structure (int. dims. 22.2m E-W; 7.55m N-S) surviving complete (H of long walls c. 2.1-2.5m) with quoins and a double bellcote (now damaged) over the W gable. There are pointed doorways towards the W end of the N and S walls, with a stoup inside the S doorway and an aumbry at the E end of the S wall. Two ogee-headed windows, one above the other, are in the W gable, with another in the E wall, and there are two simple lights towards the E end of the long walls. All the embrasures are lintelled internally except the E window which has a flat arch of dressed voussoirs and ingoings. The square base of a font (WA013-034004-) is also located within the church (Power 1898, 83).

All of the lintels, except one over the N doorway, have ogham inscriptions (Brash 1868-9, 118-30; Macalister 1945, 286-9), and a seventh ogham stone is standing in the NW corner of the church. An eighth ogham stone, said to have also originated here, was recorded by Macalister (1907, 213; 1945, 289; see also Brash 1879, 270 and Redmond 1885-6, 418-9) at Salterbridge House, near Cappoquin prior to 1907 (photograph from Macalister 1907, 212) but it was missing when he returned in 1940.

Monument

'Slab of old red sandstone', 0.66m x 0.28m x 0.10m (converted from Brash 1879, 270). Macalister (1945, 289) describes the stone as 'the broken-off top of a pillar-stone'.

Text

The inscription read up-top-down, beginning on the left-hand angle at the broken end. Despite a spall on the face near the top of the stone, the remaining inscription appeared to be in tact (Redmond 1885-6, 418-9). 'The prefixed MAQI is purely conjectural: nothing is left of it but the last two vowel-notches' (Macalister 1945, 289).

Transliteration

[MAQ]Ị MOG̣ʷ̣EDIAS/ MAQI/ MUIBITI

Translation

'of Mac-Mo-Guide* son of Mo-Ibaite*'(?)

Commentary

The NG (three scores crossing the stemline diagonally) of MONGEDIAS is the later manuscript value for this consonant. However, as this 'is not a radical initial in Irish, no more than is the H of hÚath, and is not contained in the letter name itself [Gétal], it cannot be authentic' (McManus 1991, 21, 37-8). It occurs very rarely in the early monumental inscriptions and its original value remains unclear, although McManus (1988, 157-9) has suggested a Primitive Irish value /gw/.
Neither of the personal names appear to be attested elsewhere but David Stifter (Ogam Advent Calendar on Twitter, 2021) has suggested Old Irish Mac-Mo-Guide* 'son-of-my-prayer' and Mo-Ibaite* 'my-drunken-one' (?).

Locations

Found

Found in 1869 by Brash (1879, 270) 'lying on a low wall in the pleasure ground at the west side' of Salterbridge House (the residence of the Chearnley Family who were proprietors of the estate, which included the church and graveyard at Knockboy), in the townland of Salterbridge and barony of Coshmore and Coshbride. Reported to Macalister (1945, 289) by Richard Chearnley (Salterbridge, proprietor of estate) to have come from Seskinan church.

Original

Last Recorded

The stone was reported lost by 1940 when Macalister (1945, 289) revisited Salterbridge. The last known location of this stone may be accessed via the National Monuments Service Historic Environment viewer on www.archaeology.ie (GPS coordinates -7.881039, 52.148923)

History of Recording

This ogham stone appears to have been first noticed by Brash in 1869 (1879, 270). Redmond recorded and sketched the stone in 1885 (1885-6, 418-9) and a description with photograph appeared in Macalister's Studies in Irish Epigraphy in 1907 (213).