AGHAL/1

Gippert/Web, Ogham 9, writing in 1996 noted that,` [the school] seems no longer to exist but the stone can easily be found passing by the road leading from Ballycastle to Killala, between Heathfield and Carrowculleen; the stone is then visible in a field to the right of the road, and the house opposite is named `Aghaleague' (should this be the former school?). It has to be noted that the stone stands at the foot of a hill with a height of 788 ft. (according to the O.S. map) which surpasses every other peak in that area'.

Macalister's reading in 1945 is significantly more cautious than that of 1919. He hypothesises that the inscription contained the formula MAQI MUCOI, noting that `this is the first of the many examples that we shall meet with of the destruction of names introduced by the formula `MAQI MUCOI'.

Gippert/Web, Ogham 9: `The inscription was not readable during a first visit in 1978 because of bad weather conditions. On a second visit in 1996 the stone was quite well accessible but it has to be noted that not very many strokes have survived weathering on the edge. This inscription is desolate. As against Macalister's reading, nothing can be made out of the first two letters of his first `MAQ'. At the bottom of the inscribed edge, five scores can be recognized that may represent Macalister's second Q. Equally, of his `ACTO' only the last vowel notch can be made probable. In the middle, it is not easy to verify Macalister's MAQ; at least, the distance between the M score and what would have to be regarded as the A dot would be extremely short; the same holds true for the first Q score (cp. figs. 7 and 3). In the upper third of the inscription, Macalister's G cannot be verified; there seems to be just one M score. There is no indication whatsoever in favour of Macalister's supposition that the peculiar shape of the stone might be due to a `MAQI MUCOI' formula having been intentionally destroyed'.