What is recorded here

In the 1890s, family members pulled a heptagonal stone stoup from Innisfallen Island and carried it to Killarney, where it sat forgotten until a lady gave it to Captain O'Connell in 1937. Now it stands on a marble plinth in the porch of the Friary church, its shallow central depression still holding the shape of hands that washed or poured there centuries ago. The worn rim suggests repeated use, perhaps by monks, perhaps by children, perhaps by nobody at all before the stone left the island. What is certain is that the stoup survived demolition, transit and neglect to become a small altar in a later church, carrying the memory of water and ritual across changing faiths.

On top of a marble stand, in the SW corner of the porch of the 19th-century Friary church in Killarney. The stoup is heptagonal in plan and rectangular in elevation. There is a shallow depression in the centre of the upper surface. The rim of the stoup is worn. In correspondence with Leask (OPW), Capt. D. B. O'Connell (SMR file) wrote of receiving the stoup from a lady in Killarney in 1937. It had been removed by family members from Innisfallen Island (KE066-072----) when work was being carried out there in the 1890s. It was recorded by O'Connell as being '8" in height x 7" in width' with the depression '3" in diameter x 4" in depth'. Its record number at its original location is KE066-072003-. Compiled by: Elizabeth Byrne, Ursula Egan and Sheila Ronan, Archaeological Survey Unit, University College, Cork. Date of upload: 31 January 2011

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