Scattery Island, Co. Clare

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Inscription Description Map Epidoc

National Monuments Service Record Number: CL067-024016-

'Scattery Island, at the mouth of the Shannon near Kilrush, has been an ecclesiastical centre since early times. A monastery was reputdely founded here by St Senan in the sixth century, but suffered under the Vikings in the ninth and tenth centuries .. There are visible today the remains of the monastery, including a round tower, of the cathedral and of three ruined medieval churches. One of these Teampall Seanáin, or St Senan's church, stands on higher ground to the north of the main group of buildings' (Okasha and Forsyth 2001, 112). A structure/enclosure known as 'St Senan’s Bed' (CL067-024002-), where Senan is reputedly buried, is located beside this church. Also located here is a 9th or 10th-century cross slab (3D PDF) with two inscriptions in half-uncial script reading: OROIT DO MOINACH ('A prayer for Moínach') and OROIT DO MOENACH AITE MOGROIN ('A prayer for Móenach tutor of Mogrón'). The ogham stone, which was formerly here, is now on display inside the refurbished exhibition centre.

Monument

'Gritstone' 2.00m x 0.60m x 0.14m (Okasha and Forsyth 2001, 112)

Text

'Faint traces of individual strokes are discernible at various points but the best preserved section is towards the left end where the remains of five neatly parallel strokes of equal length, 6 cm long and 2 cm apart, are visible on the upper surface. These form an ogham letter N. Further to the left, following a gap, are the remains of four similar strokes on the upper surface, an S or part of an N' (Okasha and Forsyth 2001, 112).

Transliteration

[ ̣ ̣ ? ̣ ̣]N[ ̣ ̣ ? ̣ ̣]Ṣ[ ̣ ̣ ? ̣ ̣]

Translation

Commentary

Locations

Found

set against the west wall of the enclosure, known as 'Senan's Bed', where it was used as the seat of a bench-like structure in the townland of Scattery Island and barony of Moyarta. (GPS coordinates -9.517780, 52.615507)

Original

Find location probably original site

Last Recorded

The ogham stone is currently on display inside the refurbished exhibition centre on Scattery Island. National Monuments Service Historic Environment viewer on www.archaeology.ie. (GPS coordinates -9.514446, 52.614625)

History of Recording

Okasha and Forsyth (2001, 112) state that this stone was first noted by Westropp (1897, 285) as having 'ogham-like' scores, but that it was overlooked by Macalister and later scholars.