by Searles O'Dubhain

The Celtic Inscribed Stones Project (CISP) at University College London catalogues Ogham and Latin inscriptions across Britain and Ireland. Among them is a stone from the Isle of Man bearing an inscription that most scholars read as DOVAIDONA MAQI DROATA — "Dovaido, son of the Druid." The stone is dated by epigraphic convention to the late 5th or early 6th century CE.

For Searles O'Dubhain, who spent decades arguing for the continuity of Druidic practice rather than mere reconstruction, this inscription is more than an antiquarian curiosity. It is direct archaeological evidence that a person in the 500s CE identified their father as a Druid — long after Christianity had officially displaced the old religion in Ireland. Posted to alt.religion.druid in October 2010, this short essay pairs the inscription with a transmission theory from Sean O'Tuathail about the two streams of surviving Druidry: those who adapted to court and lost the living practice, and those who withdrew into the wild and kept it.

The Inscription

The stone, held in the records of the Celtic Inscribed Stones Project (CISP) under the site designation RUSHN_1, bears the following readings across four centuries of scholarship:

Rhys, J. (1890):
DOVAIDONAMA QI ||| DROATA
Expansion: DOVAIDONA MAQI DROATA
Translation: Dovaido (personal name), son of (the) Druid.

Kermode, P.M.C. (1907):
DOVAIDONA MA QI ||| DROATA
Expansion: DOVAIDONA MAQI DROATA
Translation: (The Stone of) Dovaidu, son of the Druid.
Dated by Kermode to c. 466–533 CE.

Macalister, R.A.S. (1945):
DOVAIDONAMA QI ||| DROATA
Expansion: DOVAIDONA MAQI DROATA

Ziegler, S. (1994):
DOVAIDONAMA QI | DRUTA
Expansion: DOVAIDONA MAQI DRUTA
Dated by Ziegler to her Period II (AD 500–550), on the basis of showing apocope.

Searles' Commentary

This is a 5th or 6th century Ogham stone showing that Druids were still around then. I maintain they survived much longer. Sean O'Tuathail maintained that the Druids split into two main groups during the early centuries of the 1st millennium. These were court Druids and wild Druids. The ones in court lost their edge for Draíocht by playing politics and currying favor at court. The wild Druids maintained their abilities and ways by living close to Nature. It is these Druids who may well have survived in families and could still be among us still. I've never knowingly met one, but anytime I meet someone exceedingly wise or in touch with Nature I am filled with anticipation that they may be such as these.

Colophon

Written by Searles O'Dubhain and posted to alt.religion.druid on October 29, 2010. The inscription data is drawn from the Celtic Inscribed Stones Project (CISP), University College London. The MAQI formula (son of) is standard in Ogham inscriptions; DROATA is the genitive of a word cognate with Old Irish druí (Druid). Sean O'Tuathail (also rendered Seán Ó Tuathaill) was an Irish scholar associated with the Ord Draiochta na hÉireann.

Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Original Message-ID: 0a461098-2a35-4a02-bc01-de8f74f99da3@x42g2000yqx.googlegroups.com.

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