Welcome to Ogham Treasure
Irish Jewellery designer Katie McCay, an Athlone native, has been designing and creating unique and meaningful jewellery inspired by Ireland’s ancient past over a decade.
Her fascination with ancient writing and symbolism led to her to study Celtic Archaeology at NUI Galway where she also developed a keen interest in metalworking. Katie opened her craft gallery, The Bastion Gallery in Athlone, more than twenty five years ago.
Her attraction to Ogham, combined with her craftsmanship in metalworking allowed her turn her fascination into a passion and so the Ogham Treasure Collection was established in 2012.
Each piece of jewellery in the Ogham Treasure Collection represents a word or letter that has special meaning in ancient Celtic writing.
Crafted in recycled silver, the pieces are designed and made using traditional and modern jewellery making techniques forging a unique connection to an ancient tradition.
Our Studio is not open to the public but can be viewed at the Bastion Gallery Gift shop next door.
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Ogham Story
Ogham was the first ever written form of Gaelic and is referred to as the “Celtic Tree Alphabet”. Commonly believed to be named after the Irish God of Speech and Language, Ogma, it is estimated to have been used from about the fourth to the seventh century AD. The Ogham alphabet originally consisted of twenty letters called Feda “trees” arranged into four groups called Aicme “families”. Each character was named after native Irish trees that were of great importance to the early Irish society including Birch, Alder, Willow, Oak, Hazel, Pine, Ash and Yew. These trees were sacred to our Irish ancestors and have been spiritually linked to Irish culture and society for millenia.
Ogham is represented by a series of lines running along a central line. Each letter is represented by up to five strokes and placed in relation to the base line with the different groups determining the direction of the strokes. It reads upwards or from left to right and was mostly used for short inscriptions such as names. This unique and intricate writing was found carved on stone in many parts across Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Today, there are approximately 400 known Ogham stones still remaining in Ireland. These remaining inscriptions containing Ogham are almost exclusively made up of personal names and marks of land ownership. Although short-lived, Ogham shows the versatility and inventiveness of its creators and reflects the variety of cultures coexisting in Ireland at the time.
This visually striking script still enchants and mystifies people all over the world today.
Intellectual property
These designs are the sole Intellectual property of Ogham Treasure. Any Copyright infringement will be pursued vigorously.