OGHAM WRITING
Ogham is the earliest form of writing in Ireland, it dates to around 4th century A.D. and was in use for around 500 years. The Ogham alphabet is made up of a series of strokes along or across a line. Ogham is sometimes referred to as the "Celtic Tree Alphabet" as a number of the letters are linked to old Irish names for certain trees. The alphabet was carved on standing stones to commemorate someone, using the edge of the stone as the centre line. They normally read from the left hand side bottom up, across the top and if need be down the other side.
This alphabet is based on old Irish, and as a result only 20 of the typical Latin characters have Ogham equivalents. The letters J, K, V, W, X, and Y are absent from Ogham. Certain sources suggest phonetic replacements can be used in place of the missing letters.
For the purpose of this puzzle, try to use your best guesses to which replacements were used for the missing letters! After all, there are only 10 numbers to choose from.
OGHAM STONES
The Ogham Stone near the Final Coordinates was relocated here. Without the knowledge of it's provenance, it is thought to originate from a stream bed in the townland of Ballyeightragh on the Dingle Peninsula. Made from sandstone, the upright ogham stone has a dimension of H 1.4m; 0.51m x 0.13m, oriented NW-SE.
The inscription is on its SW corner, with strokes extending onto the NW face. It begins c. 0.34m from the present ground level, continuing around the apex and down the NE corner. It was read by Macalister (1945, 162-3) as 'M A Q I - L I A G M A Q I E R C A, SON OF LIAG SON OF ERCA' though Cuppage (ibid.) noted that the final A could no longer be read and that the first I had been damaged where a notch had been cut into the edge of the stone. There is a small notch (H 0.12m), 0.36m from the base of the stone and possible sharpening marks on the NW and SE faces. It was recorded in the 1940s that this ogham stone was presented to the Bishop of Kerry in 1919 and moved to St. Brendan's seminary, Killarney (ITA). According to local information, it has since been moved a short distance to its present position.
PUZZLE
Remember, ogham is not a language, but letters/alphabet. Decipher the following text to reveal the coordinates of the final container and the ogham stone!
N 52° 3.XXX' W 9° 31.YYY'
