hoc, it would, he feared, be impossible to make a further exploration of that carn at present.

The following communication on Begerin, near Wexford, accompanied by rubbings and sketches, was contributed by George H. Kinahan, M. R. I. A. :—

"Begerin was formerly an island in the north portion of the Wexford estuary, but now it and the associated islands are surrounded by reclaimed land; of this island Dr. Joyce, in reply to a letter of inquiry, writes:

"Begerin, or Beg-Eire, in the Latin life of St. Ibar, is translated Parva Hibernia (Little Ireland), and, according to O'Clery's Irish Calendar, i. e., the Martyrology of Donegal, St. Ibar, who died in A. D. 500, erected a church in the island, where his patron or festival was kept on the 23rd April (O'Donovan, Note to "Four Masters"). According to the authorities quoted by Lanigan, St. Ibar was a native of Ulster, and resided chiefly in his Monastery of Beg-Eire. "Ecclesiastic schools, or seminaries, under the name of monasteries were established and governed by several Irish prelates at this period (5th century).. Another renowned

school was that of Ibar in Begerin, which he established after having preached the gospel in various parts of Ireland, and in which he instructed a vast number of persons" ("Lanigan," Vol. I., p. 402). The following is from Ussher:-"Adultus sacerdos et multa sanctimonia vitæ pollens Ibarus missus est ad Evangelium prædicandum per Hiberniam in quâ innumeros ad fidem Christi convertit. Ad fines Lageniensium venit, et Australem ejus partem ubi est litoralis parva insula Begerin, id est, Parva Hibernia, dicta, ubi celebre condidit cœnobium, et sacras ibidem literas aliasque artes optimas docuit ad maximam multitudinem Hibernorum et aliorum." The "Four Masters" record, in a. D. 819, "The plundering of Beg-Eire and Dairinis Caemhain by the foreigners [Danes]." In A. D. 884, "died Diarmaid, Abbot of Beg-Eire." In A. D. 964, Crunnmhael, Abbot of Beg-Eire, Bishop and Lector of Taimhlacht [Tallaght, near Dublin], was drowned at Tochar Eachdhach."

"During the reclamation of the North Estuary Lands' it was found that in ancient times Begerin had been joined to the islands on the southeast by a narrow bridge or causeway. This way ran nearly due south from the S. E. end of Begerin, and the site of it was discovered in a straight line when opening three nearly E. and W. ditches. The remains consist of two rows of oak piles, 1 ft. 6 in. by 9 inches in section; the rows are 4 feet apart, with about 5 feet between each pair. On these piles there would seem to have originally been longitudinal and transverse beams; but no traces of them were found. To the west, north, and north-east of Begerin there was formerly a channel that tradition says was once the passage for ships going up to Wexford. This to the west is called on the Ordnance Map Begerin Channel,' and on the north, Bunatroe Channel;' but locally it is known as 'The Pill;' and at the north extremity of the island, on the margin of Bunatroe Channel, are the remains of a wharf, which consist of eight oak piles, while others are said to have drawn at the time the lands were reclaimed. Three-quarters of a mile north-east of Begerin, in a small bay off the estuary were two islands, on the most northern of which, now in the townland of Ballinamorragh, are the remains of a large circular mound, about 75 feet in diameter; this

seems to have been a tuaim or sepulchral mound; but no tradition in regard to it is now remembered; perhaps the word 'Morragh,' in the townland name, may have some connexion with the individual who was buried here. On the mainland due west of Begerin there seems to have been once a church, as the place is called Kilmisten, while in the townland on the north (Ardcolm) are a church and well, dedicated to St. Columb, and to the south are a well and a church, dedicated to St. Cavan. The ruins at Ardcavan show that the last church erected there, although extensive, was not a very ancient building, it probably having been built between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. St. Columb's Church was not as extensive, but both seem to have been erected about the same period. On Begerin none of the old buildings remain; there are indeed the ruins of a church, but this evidently was erected subsequently to the time of the Monastery of St. Ibar, and probably at a very recent date. Immediately south of the ruin is a large disc of green slaty grit, about 7 feet in diameter, that tradition says 'marks St. Ibar's grave.' Years ago a hole was dug under the west side of this stone, looking for treasures, into which the stone has fallen, so that the original surface cannot be examined. In the graveyard to the south-east of the ruin are two ancient crosses cut in slate, one being red and the other green. The stone on which the first is cut is now 2 feet 6 inches long, the upper circular portion being a foot in diameter. The cross originally must have been very handsome, but it is now weathered and partially defaced. The second is more perfect, but not as elaborate. Its stone is about 3 feet long, the circular part being 14 inches in diameter.. The raised cross is a little to the right on the slab. Besides these there are a very rude cross, 18 inches high by 11 inches wide; a flattish massive stone, 1 foot 10 inches by 1 foot 3 inches, having cut in it a rude rectangular figure, 9 inches by 7 inches, that encloses a plain equal-armed incised cross; and an oblong granite stone, on which is a plain cross; this stone is 18 inches by 11, perfectly flat on the back, and convex on the cross-inscribed face.

"No other undoubted antiquities could be found on the island, but there is an egg-shaped mass of granite, 9 by 6 inches, that possibly may have been the grinder in a bullaun-shaped corn rubber, as it seems to have been artificially polished, and there is the lower stone of a large quern; the latter has nothing remarkable about it, and seems to have been very little used."

The following papers were contributed :

COUNTY OF KILKENNY INSCRIBED PILLAR-STONES:

GOWRAN.

BY RICHARD ROLT BRASH, M. R. I. A.

GOWRAN is a post-town and parish in the barony of the same names (Ord. Sheet No. 22). It has an ancient parish church, the existing remains of which evidence that origi nally it was a structure of considerable pretensions to architectural beauty; it stands in the centre of an ancient cemetery which contains very many sepulchral slabs of Mediæval date, some of them richly carved. But the object of most interest in the graveyard of Gowran is the Ogham inscribed stone I am about to describe, and which lies prostrate in the grass at the north side of the church. Mr. John G. A. Prim has stated ("Journal," October, 1872), that this stone was discovered in the foundation of the chancel of the ancient church, which was taken down in the early part of the present century, and upon the site of which the present one was erected. The building so removed appears to have been a work of the thirteenth century.

The Ogham inscribed stone is a block of hard compact grit, of irregular form, rough and undressed, and having portions knocked off, evidently by violence; it measures 4 feet 10 inches in length, 16 inches wide at centre, and from 9 to 11 inches thick; it bears on two angles of the same face the remains of one or more inscriptions. The line of characters on the left angle at present commences 2 feet 3 inches from the original bottom of the stone, continuing to the top and across the head; the inscription is much injured by flakes knocked off the angle, but the following characters are legible :—

I ERA COB []A Q [ ] [ ]

The angle, for some space before the first letter, has several spawls knocked off; there is, however, no appear.

ance of any characters, neither do I think that it was occupied by any letter before the I. Between the sixth and seventh characters the angle is also damaged, yet there is some doubt as to the space being occupied by a letter, as these seven letters seem to form a proper name. We have evidence of the presence of the word MA QI on the head of the stone, the м is absent; we have the next two letters perfect and one digit of the 1, the rest lost by injury; the G is on the right-hand corner of the head, and is perfect; it appears to have been the first letters of the patronymic, the rest of which has been lost as the angle is spawled away. The inscription on the right angle appears to have been a distinct one, and not a continuation of that on the left; it commences at 20 inches from the bottom of the stone, and the last existing character is 18 inches from the top:

It commences with the letter D; there is then a considerable space, the angle much worn and injured; we have then, next, evidence of the presence of the key-word MAQO, a form found on several monuments-the MA has been lost, the qo is perfect; after which we have certainly the word MUCOI, the last letter only being deficient of three of its digits.

The first inscription appears to me to read

The name I have not been able to identify in our indices, but it is of the same type as Iarnon, Irereo, Iarnlea ("Annals of the Four Masters"). The Gaulish form is Iricus ("Gruter," 842. 8., Aug. Taur.); we also find this name on Samian red ware in the form of Irici (" Celt. Rom. Sax.," p. 470). The legend on the right angle should probably read

DEGO MAQO MUCOI

This of course is partially conjectural; the name began with a D, and must have been a short one; the space between that letter and q is just sufficient to bear the miss

ing letters. The name Dego has been found in legends from Dunlo, and St. Olan's Well; and one of the Drumloghan find, in the county of Waterford, gives us "Deago Maqi Mucoi."

We now come to consider a very interesting feature in this example: upon the original base of this stone has been cut a cross of an ancient type; it is formed of a broad band enclosed by an incised line; the ends of the arms have rectangular cross-heads; the same type is to be found on the Dromkeare stone, county of Kerry. One of the arms has been mutilated, a large piece having been knocked off the bottom. It is quite evident that the appropriation of this stone to Christian uses must have been long posterior to its use as a sepulchral memorial by a race who used the Ogham character. At a period when the knowledge of the Ogham had been lost, or when this memorial had ceased to command the veneration of succeeding generations, this pillar-stone had been appropriated by a Christian people; a cross had been carved on the original bottom or uninscribed end of the stone, which was originally fastened in the earth; it was turned upside down, the original top with its inscription being buried in the ground, placed probably as a monument over some deceased Christian. This is the story of this stone, as plain and palpable as if we were looking at the whole process. Subsequently we find that when the Medieval church was building by the Anglo Norman settlers in Ossory, they found this block convenient for building purposes, and not having much respect for the monuments of the mere Irish, they worked it into the foundation of their church, mutilating it in the process. This stone was first noticed by Mr. Du Noyer, in the summer of 1849 ("Proceedings R. I. A.," Vol. VII., p. 252). A drawing of it will be seen in that gentleman's collection of sketches, Library Royal Irish Academy, Vol. I., No. 22: the inscription there given is incorrect.

Dr. Samuel Ferguson considers this to be a Christian monument, and that the cross and inscription are coeval; this of course is but a supposition, as the evidence of the stone itself is opposed to it. I have already shown that the cross is inscribed upon the original base, which was buried in the earth when the Oghams were first carved on

4TH SER., VOL. 11.

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