With Ogham Inscriptions Re- Cently Discovered In
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0 2 PROCEEDING SOCIETYSE 0¥TH , DECEMBE , 1876R11 . II. O MONUMENTAOTW N L STONES "WITH OGHAM INSCRIPTION- RE S CENTLY DISCOVERED IN SHETLAND. BY GILBERT GOUDIE, ESQ., F.S.A Scot. face tTh that Ogham-inscribed monuments have been found onl Celtiyn i c districts, or in districts where Celtic influences have at one time prevailed, invests with considerable interest the discovery of relics of this descrip- tio n outlyini n g districts wher Celtiw efe c traceremain.w no s Sucs i h th ee Shetlan casth n ei d Islands, wher Pictise eth h peopl languagd an e e have disappeared befor Scandinaviae eth n racTeutonid ean c dialect, which have held entire island e swath morr n yi sfo e tha nthousana d years. Only five specimen Ogham-inscribef so d stones have hitherto been found e mainlanoth n f Scotlando d n IrelanI . d Walean d s the e mucyar h more common. The Scottish Oghams consist of the well-known Newton Stone Scoonie th ; e Stone, presente Museue th o dt 186mn i 6stone th ; e froe churchyarth m f Aboyneo d a cas ,f whico te s addeth wa ho t d collection in 1873 by the Marquis of Huntly ; the stone in the Museum Duke oth fSutherlan f eo t Dunrobida thad n t Logie-Elphinstone;an a t , Aberdfienshire. e yeath r n I 186 e Bressath 4 y Stone a sla, f chloritbo e slate richly sculpture reliefw lo ,n d i wit n Oghaha m inscriptio e edgeth n , o nfoun d in the island of that name in Shetland, was presented to the Museum by the late Rev r HamiltonD . n 187I smalle.1a r slab, bearin e incisegth d outlin crossa f eo , wit n Oghama h inscription, e Brocfounth f n hi o d Burrian islane th Nortf n do i , h Eonaldsey Orkneyn i , s presentewa , y b d Dr Traill of "Woodwick ; and, more recently, a fragment with two letters in the same character was found in the parish of Cunningsburg, in Shetland, by Mr Eobert Coglo,—these discoveries thus adding Shetland provincOrknew d ne e knowan a th s o yea t n domai f Oghano m relics. The Scottish Ogham monuments wer el eigh thual number—fivn n i tsi e fromainlande mth froe mon , Orkney twd an o, from Shetland—untie th l stone exhibitew sno d were discovere summee th n di f 1876ro . The best known remain antiquitf so Shetlann yi Standine th e dar g Stones and sepulchral cairns, and the Brochs or circular towers of the Picts, which have appeared so frequently in the Proceedings of this Society, and have contributed so largely to the collection in the Museum. But there is another MONUMENTAO ONTW L STONES WITH OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS1 2 . class—the early ecclesiastical remains, whic alse har o numeroust no d an , less interesting islane th f Unstn do I . , twenty-four site churchef so e sar said to have been identified;J and the other districts, if carefully examined, would probably show number proportionn si , thoug mosn i h t casee th s remain n ruii r have no ar se entirely disappeared r HenrSi . y Dryden, who has done so much for the antiquities of the North, has taken the measurement a numbe f o s f theso r e remain n the~northeri s n districts; those elsewhere have bee t littlnbu e noticed. On the west side of the southern promontory of the Shetland mainland, in the parish of Dunrossness, is the small isle of St Mnian's (locally termed t Eingan's)S , wit chapea site f heth o l presumably dedicate thao dt t saint, and which seems to have survived the Reformation, and to have been in existence within comparatively recent times. excepe w accoune f I remarkable th t th f o t e voyag f Mcoleo o Zenoe th , Venetian yeae th r n i ,1380 firse th , t detailed descriptio Shetlane th f no d Islands is given by Buchanan (1582),2 in which no mention is made of St Ninian's Isle. It appears, however, as " S. Tronons Yle " in Timothy Fonts' map, prepared about the year 1608, and published in the great e Blaeuatlath f f so Amsterdam. so 3e rea b Thiy d eithema s mis a s a -r print for St Eonon's Isle, or possibly as St Tronon's, seeing that, accord- inBishoo t g p Porbes t NiniaS , s beenha n know n somi n e northern district Englanf so t Trinyon.S s da 4 In addition to the figure of a house surmounted by a cross denoting a church, there is adjoining to it, on the map, the mark indicating a man- sio hamletr no , most probabl remaine yth whaf originalls o wa t ymona - astic residence, and latterly the dwelling of the resident priest up to the Eeformation disappeared.w l whicno al s t hha bu , 5 1 Sir H. Dryden, Bart.—Ruined Churches in Shetland. Privately printed, 1868. 2 Rerum Scoticarum Historia, apud Alex. Arbufhnetum. Edin., 1582. 3 Orbis Theatrum Terrarum. Amsterdam, 1654. 4 Live t Niniat KentigernS S f so d nan . 256p , . I do not know to whom the island belonged prior to the middle of the seventeenth 5 centuryd Augus2 n O t . 1667 e land th merks8 , (1 s ) were wadsette o Laurenct d e Stewart of Bigtowu by James Sinclair of Scalloway, with consent of Arthur Sinclair, s eldeshi t d sonGrizean , l Sinclair, heires f Houso s s (Oondeseendence n Process,i James Scott v. J. B. Stewart, 1779). In 1709 the isle was conveyed by Charles Stewart of Bigtowu to his son John Charles Stewart (Register of Sasines, General Register House). n 173 I e propertth 2 y devolve o Clementint d a Stewart, thea n 2 2 PROCEEDING SOCIETYE TH F SO , DECEMBE , 1876R11 . The island is pretty accurately described by the Kev. Mr Brand, in the year 1701 follows a , s :— Norte th o "h NesT e Westh sf o lyet t Ninian'sS s Isle, very pleasant; wherein ther Chappe a Alta whereoit eis ane in r land n some superstitious Peopl buro ed n Candle thio st s day. Some take this Islea rathee b o t r kin f Peninsulado , joyne e MaiBana th y f o nSanddt b ko whicy b , n hi int Peoplo b Islee g aoth ny Eb , ema tho ' sometime without sno t danger."1 The resemblanc eIsle herWhithornf th e o o et supposee th , e d th sit f eo original Candida Casa of the Saint, is striking. It, too, at present a pen- insula, is, I believe, insulated at certain tides; suggesting the idea that the founders of St Ninian's in Shetland were not unacquainted with the little isle in Galloway which was consecrated by the life and labours of e saintth . Indeed s especiall knoe wa w ,o w Apostle wh thayth e h t e of> the Britons, and of the Southern Picts, was also revered as a father by the Celts of Ireland, to whom Whithorn was a favourite resort. And as on the mainland, close to the Isle of Whithorn, a splendid church and a priory were in the course of time erected, so we find that there was also adjoinine onth g mainlan Shetlandn di placa t a , e bearin e suggestivgth e nam f Ireland,eo 2 ver yt Ninian' S nea o t r s Isle churc,a f moro h e than usual pretension walle steeplth d , san f whiceo h were standin lato s gs ea 1711.3 There is reason to believe, on the authority of Brand (1701), that this was a church with a round tower, like the famous Church of Egilsey in Orkne I hav t ye bu • sough vestigy , thoug an it vai n f i r t e o nfo th h spo whicn o believets i t hi havo dt e ctoo bees y b dha e n m pointe o t t dou natives, whose account from tradition entirels i , y consistent with whae w t learn regarding it otherwise. Brand's descriptio t Ninian'S f o n s Isle-is repeate Martiy db n (1703),* •and in Sir Eobert Sibbald's book, published in 1711,6 it is particularly minor r marriag, whohe n o , 174n i e Joho t 4 n Bruee (Stewart), dispone whole th d e lands to him (Henry Blair v. J. B. Stewart, Nov. 18, 1783); and he, it is stated, demolished the remains of the chapel and built the retaining wall. It ceased to he inhabited abou year0 16 t s ago, whe peae nth t fuel failed. 1 Brief Descriptio Orkneyf no , Zetland, Pightland-Firth Caithnessd an , ,y &cB . the Rev. John Brand, 1701, p. 84. 2 Perhaps, however, thi modera se b nam y n eforma Eyrr-land,f mo placa e adjoin- gravella g in ysea-shoree banth y kb . 3 Descriptio Islee th Shetlandf f s. o Sibbaldn o R r Si ., . 171136 . p , 4 Descriptio Westere th f no n Isles . Martin&c , , 1703. 5~0p.. cit.,36 . p MONUMENTAO ONTW L STONES WITH OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS3 2 . referred to in much the same way. Dr Arthur Edmondston, the historian of Shetland (1809), give passina t si g notice, wit allusion ha tradia o nt - churce th o tiot h s nhavina g heen erecte Dutaa y db h captai acknown i - ledgment of preservation from a storm at sea 1—a tradition common to many similar sites in the islands, but which does not deserve serious notice.