What is recorded here

Kilcummin graveyard in County Mayo once held a small triangular stone bearing a circled Maltese cross beside St Cummin’s grave. Measured at eleven, eight and six inches across, the fragment may have broken from a larger slab, while a matching cross still appears on another stone nearby. The shard has vanished, leaving behind a missing marker and a sudden absence where a familiar sacred shape once stood.

In Kilcummin graveyard (MA008-006007-). The 1838 OS Letters record that there was a triangular-shaped stone slab, with a small Maltese-type cross in circle inscribed on one face, located on the W side of St Cummin’s grave (MA008-006002-) in the N half of the graveyard (O’Flanagan 1927, 101). The small size of the stone suggested that it might have broken off a larger slab, and it was noted that the cross was similar in design to those on another cross-slab (MA008-006003-) which stands on the W side of the saint’s grave. The dimensions of the three sides of the triangular slab were recorded as 11 inches [0.28m], 8 inches [0.2m] and 6 inches [0.15m], and it was 2.5 inches [0.06m] thick. The current location of the stone is unknown. Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 15 July 2019

Probably dates to the early Christian period (5th–10th century). The cross may have had a liturgical or commemorative function, possibly marking a Christian burial or sacred site associated with St. Cummin.

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