The Ballaqueeney Ogham Stone is an early medieval memorial stone with an

Ogham inscription Roughly 400 known ogham inscriptions are on stone monuments scattered around the Irish Sea, the bulk of them dating to the fifth and sixth centuries. Their language is predominantly Primitive Irish, but a few examples record fragments of the ...

. It was discovered at Ballaqueeney (Ballaquine)

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

in 1874 by Reverend F. B. Grant during the process of excavating dirt for use as railroad ballast. The stone was kept in a garden in Ballaqueeney from its discovery until about 1885. This caused the stone surface to deteriorate, due to being exposed to wind and rain, with the result that two Ogham letters can no longer be read.

Macalister Macalister, MacAlister, MacAllister and their variants are forms of a Gaelic surname which means 'son of Alisdair'. The name originated in Scotland and belonged to a branch of the Clan Donald; they became an independent clan in 1493. From about the ...

noted that "the grooves are finely cut with a V-shaped section" and "the scores forming the consonants for the most part are 2 inches in length...there are no traces of divisional points; but there are longer spaces between the words than between the letters". The stones are now located at the

Manx Museum The Manx Museum (Thie Tashtee Vannin) in Douglas, Isle of Man is the national museum of the Isle of Man. It is run by Manx National Heritage. In general, the museum covers 10,000 years the history of the Isle of Man from the Stone Age to the mode ...

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals *Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil W ...

where it has the catalogue number "MM 2".

reads the Ogham inscription as meaning " toneof Bivaidonas, son of the tribe of Cunavali". F. J. Byrne suggests that the personal name Bivaidonas is related to the Conailli Muirtheimne of north

Louth Louth may refer to: Australia *Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Louth, New South Wales, a town * Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia **Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality Canada * Louth, Ontario Ireland * Cou ...

and south Down. D. McManus notes that the tribal name Cunavali could refer to either an Irish or a British tribe.

References

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External links

Manx national heritage

The Manx Museum in Douglas, Isle of Man
Ogham inscriptions History of the Isle of Man 1874 archaeological discoveries 1874 in the Isle of Man