The Ogham and Carved Stones at UCC
The ogham stones, located in the North Wing (the 'Stone Corridor') of the Quadrangle at UCC, form the largest collection together of such inscriptions on open display in Ireland. The stones date from the fifth to the seventh centuries AD. Ogham inscriptions are in the very oldest Irish language, which are the earliest examples of the written language. All are from Co. Cork with one exception being from Co. Waterford.
Five stones had been originally housed in the Royal Cork Institution (RCI), a centre for education in Cork city from 1807 to c.1861. Three references to stones donated to the RCI have been found in minutes of their meetings. These five stones were transferred to Queen’s College Cork from the RCI (at a currently unknown date). One stone was added around 1907 by Sir Bertram Windle (President of UCC from 1904 to 1919 and first Professor of Archaeology of the College). Another 6 stones were added in 1913, after removal from a souterrain (underground chamber) in Knockshanawee, Co. Cork. Twelve more were added in 1920 from Ballyknock, Co. Cork, and were also originally part of a souterrain; these were donated to UCC by the landowner who was the Duke of Devonshire. Of the remaining stones, 2 were added to the collection before 1932 by Rev. Canon Power (Professor of Archaeology at UCC from 1915 to 1932).
Also included in the Stone Corridor are four carved stones (Stone29a+b, Stone31 and Stone32), two of which are from Co. Waterford, and one each from Co. Cork and Co. Kerry. These stones date from the Early Christian to the Medieval period.
All of the ogham stones in the UCC collection underwent conservation in 2006, subject to the necessary Licence to Alter from the National Museum of Ireland. The stones are currently held in position by custom-made conservation-grade fittings and fixtures, specific to each stone. The stones are protected as artefacts under the National Monuments Acts and are recorded as monuments under this legislation. Further protection is provided by the Planning Acts as the stones are fittings of the Stone Corridor, which is itself a protected structure.
Information about the Stones
The first guide to the stones was published in 1932 by Professor Patrick Power (The ogham stones: University College, Cork). The most recent guide was published by Professor Damian McManus in 2004 (Ogam stones at University College Cork). The last ogham stone was in place by 1945, when it was published by Professor R. A. S. Macalister in his corpus of ogham inscriptions (Corpus inscriptionum insularum celticarum [CIIC], 2 volumes).
There have been two major projects that have recorded these ogham stones and their inscriptions: Ogham in 3D begun by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (2012-2025 and 2016-2017) and the OG(H)AM Project, which ran from 1 August 2021 till 31 July 2024 and was a collaboration between the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and Maynooth University, Ireland. An older project run by Jost Gippert is Thesaurus Indogermanischer Text- und Sprachmaterialien, TITUS OGAMICA (1996-2001): search for "Cork".
Dr Nora White (Postdoctoral Researcher, OG(H)AM Project) has published two articles online about the UCC stones:
‘The Stone Corridor – ogham stones at University College Cork (Part 1)’ OG(H)AM, https://ogham.glasgow.ac.uk/index.php/2023/06/26/the-stone-corridor-ogham-stones-at-university-college-cork-part-1/
‘The Stone Corridor – ogham stones at University College Cork (Part 2)’ OG(H)AM, https://ogham.glasgow.ac.uk/index.php/2023/09/12/the-stone-corridor-ogham-stones-at-university-college-cork-part-2/
Nora has also written a beautifully illustrated guide to everything one would want to know about ogham and its use on the island of Ireland in Ogham Stones: our ancient landscapes, ogham stones in Ireland (2021), https://www.heritagecouncil.ie/content/files/Ogham-Stones.pdf