Trace - Chapter Two - Ogham

Ireland

Trace: the next chapter is rooted in Ireland with ash collected from 20 native plants. The framework for the selection is Ogham, chosen because it is not an invented list but an ancient one, a record of the plants cultrally considered most significant in their landscape.

The Ogham alphabet is one of the oldest written scripts in Ireland, dating to the 4th century. It was carved into stone and wood along edges and notches, a script designed to be read by touch as well as sight. Each of its twenty letters carries the name of a native plant. The alphabet is a record of the Irish landscape. For the Ireland chapter of Trace, Ogham offers something no other framework could: a pre-existing system. These plants were chosen by an ancient culture as the most significant in their landscape. The twenty letters of the core alphabet become twenty ash glazes, each made from the botanically associated native species, collected from Irish soil. The plants encode the landscape twice: once into the alphabet that named them, and again into the glaze that holds their chemistry.

The alphabet is a record of the landscape. The glaze is too.

Book of Ballymote
In Lebor Ogaim (1390)
Ogham-stone
Illustration by Stephen Reid (1873–1948)

The Ogham Chapter is currently a work in progress...

Four specimens have been collected to date: Ash, Sessile Oak, Scots Pine, and Yew. Collection of the remaining sixteen species is ongoing across Ireland, with the full series of twenty ash glazes and sculptures to be completed in 2026/27. (All material is collected from fallen wood, with permission sought and granted before collection.)

Ogham Alphabet with Plant Associations Complete table of twenty Ogham letters with character, letter name, and botanically associated native plant Char Letter / Name Plant Char Letter / Name Plant ᚁ B Beith Beith Downy Birch ᚂ L Luis Luis Rowan ᚃ F Fearn Fearn Alder ᚄ S Sail Sail Goat Willow ᚅ N Nion Nion Wild Cherry ᚆ H hÚath hÚath Hawthorn ᚇ D Dair Dair Sessile Oak ᚈ T Tinne Tinne Holly ᚉ C Coll Coll Hazel ᚊ Q Quert Quert Crab Apple ᚋ M Muin Muin Bramble ᚌ G Gort Gort Ivy ᚍ NG nGéadal nGéadal Broom ᚎ Z Straif Straif Blackthorn ᚏ R Ruis Ruis Elder ᚐ A Ailm Ailm Scots Pine ᚑ O Onn Onn Ash ᚒ U Úr Úr Wych Elm ᚓ E Eadhadh Eadhadh Aspen ᚔ I Iodhadh Iodhadh Yew
Onn Ash

Onn

Ash

Collected from Castle Coole, Fermanagh, it carries an added urgency ash dieback is devastating Ireland’s native population, making this a record of a tree under threat.

Dair Sessile Oak

Dair

Sessile Oak

Collected in Florence Court, Co. Fermanagh, from ancient oak woodland native to the island. Oak sits at the centre of Irish ecological and cultural memory, one of the most significant trees in the landscape.

Ailm Scots Pine

Ailm

Scots Pine

Collected at Florence Court, Co. Fermanagh. The intended primary source is the native population at Rockforest in the Burren, Co. Clare, one of the few places in Ireland where a site has a direct prehistoric link. The Burren material is still to be collected.

Iodhadh Yew

Iodhadh

Yew

Collected at Gortnafolla, Co. Mayo. Yew is one of Ireland’s longest-lived native trees. It’s associated with death, rebirth, and the threshold between worlds, planted at burial sites and places of ritual significance.