Architectural feature in Kinaff, County Mayo

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Located in a graveyard (MA071-142002-), to SW of a medieval church (MA071-142001-). This architectural fragment was discovered in 2009 during a survey of the graveyard (Burke 2009). It consists of a carved block of sandstone (H 0.4m; Wth 0.2m; T 0.15m) which has been reused as a gravemarker and is set upright in the ground. A human head is carved in false relief across an angle of the square block so that it spans the width of two sides of the stone. The strong, austere face is oblong in shape, flat at the top of the head, with a robust, rounded chin. The facial features are simple but well defined: round eyes, a large, straight nose flaring slightly at the nostrils, and a horizontal groove for the mouth, with well-shaped ears flanking the top of the head. Vertical rows of small decorative bosses are carved into the sides of the stone on either side of the head. The stone was originally a capital of a Romanesque doorway and suggests a 12th-century date for the now ruined church (pers. comm. Con Manning, March 2009).

From the National Monuments Service (Archaeological Survey of Ireland) record MA071-142004

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Photo credits

Maker not stated on source page, www.dreamstime.com
National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
Maker not stated on source page, www.pinterest.com
Swinford GAA; the page thanks Michael Maye, Rita Campbell and Fiona McDonagh, without assigning the panoramic image to one maker, swinfordgaa.ie
Golfing in Ireland; photographer not stated, Source publisher

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