Thorgrims Stone

In a small cathedral, built on the banks of the river Shannon in the 13th century, is a small and curious looking stone with unusual engravings carved into it.

The cathedral is situated in the historic town of Killaloe in County Clare. This town is where the 11th Century high king of Ireland and Danish Viking slayer, Brian Boru, had his royal residence and from around 1002 to 1014 CE this pretty little town would have been a centre rich in wealth and harvest and no less than the centre of authority and capital of Ireland.

Some centuries earlier, two eminent Christian monks, Lua and Flannan, had established monasteries nearby. Indeed the very name of Killaloe means Cill Da Lua or Church of Do-Lua and Flannan was a prince of Dal gCais, a powerful local king. Sometime in the 9th Century a large stone church, St Flannan's oratory was built on the banks of the sleepy but swift flowing Shannon River (the longest river in Ireland and Britain). In the late 12th century, a larger cathedral was built on the same site as the oratory and inside this cathedral can today be found an object of unique interest and curiosity alike.

When you enter the double doorway to the cathedral you are immediately greeted by a number of historic items, a 12th century high cross removed from Kilfernora in 1821, a highly decorated Romanesque doorway and, sitting quietly on the right hand side, is Thorgrims stone.

This stone is about a meter high and well weather worn and indeed it should well be having stood open to the elements until 1916 when it was taken inside for safe keeping. It was originally much larger and was part of a high cross. This stone has two inscriptions on it. One reads "Þorgrim engraved this cross" and the other "Blessing upon Þorgrim". This in itself is a excellent example of the Viking tradition of memorial stones, which are commonly found throughout Europe. However, what is particularly interesting about this memorial is that it has a bilingual message. It is engraved in both runic and ogham script. Both unusual and rare in this time period and part of the world where monks were feverishly producing Latin gospels and manuscripts.

For those interested in Old Norse and Old Irish, the actual carvings read "[Þ]URGRIM RISTI [K]RUS ÞINA " in runes and "BEANDACHT [AR] / TOROQR[IM]" in ogham.

History does not record who Thorgrim was, or indeed whether this cross marked his grave or simply was erected by Thorgrim as a tribute to the religion of the white christ. Whether or not Thorgrim was a new convert or born into Christianity can only be speculated at. Although due to the fact that he raises a memorial stone written in the ancient languages of pre-Christian peoples, he certainly placed a lot of store in the their cultures rather than the modern Roman influenced Church.

Runes are well known and written about within the heathen community, but oghams probably less so. Therefore I have written a small piece below as a brief introduction to what the oghams are and from where originated:

Originally, there were twenty letters in the ogham alphabet. Each consists of between one and five straight lines or notches intersecting a base or stem line. The earlier ogham engravings were etched on standing stones with the edge of the stone forming a base line. Inscriptions are usually written from the base of the stone upwards.

Ogham script is generally believed to have originated at about the same time as the elder futhark. Probably along the same lines as the runes as in, after contact with Southern European tribes and peoples where literacy was more common and called for. However like the runes, Ogham has a mythological foundation too. Ogham was supposed to have been invented by the Irish god Ogma Grianaineach, 'Youthful Sun-face', "as a proof of his ingenuity, and that this speech should belong to the learned apart, to the exclusion of rustics and herdsmen."

Interestingly here we see that ogham was used as speech and no reference is made to the written word.

Oghams are also hinted at being used for magical and divination purposes in the old lore. Although, like runes, a direct and full reference of their use is nowhere provided. It is always possible a degree of cross fertilisation occurred between runes and ogham users when ideas and items were traded during the considerable contact between the Celtic Western Europe and heathen Northern Europe. However, unlike the old rune poems, no written source as to the greater individual meaning of each ogham has been recovered. Modern practitioners are attempting use develop a reliable and sympathetic system for divination but like the heathen community outside influences and internal personalities must be overcome or appeased in order for any system to be widely acknowledged.

For further information regarding ogham topics please try here

This article is © 2004 to Askeladden and may not be reposted in any format without the consent of the author.

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