What is recorded here

Inis Cealtra, County Clare: a broken cross-base marks the tomb of ten unnamed persons inside a low stone kerb. The worn Irish inscription still reads “+Tomb of the ten persons,” while the split trapezoidal stone lies half-swallowed by grass. Whoever they were, they were important enough to name and ordinary enough to be forgotten.

Situated in the SW corner of the ‘Saint’s graveyard’ (CL029-009030-) on Inis Cealtra. A cross-base (L 0.81m; Wth 1.27m; H 0.27m) trapezoidal in shape and split through the socket into two pieces. Only the top few centimetres are shaped which according to Okasha and Forsyth (2001, 48) suggests that it was intended to be embedded in the ground. The upper surface is dressed with a groove forming a moulding around the perimeter and the SW corner has been chamfered. A worn inscription, in Irish, in one horizontal line is set along the W (longest) side and reads: ‘+ILAD IDECHENBOIR’ (+Tomb of the ten persons). The cross-base stands NE of the centre of an almost square area (ext. L 2.4m N-S; Wth 2.3m) defined by a low kerb of thin upright stones. Some packing stones and other stones protruding from the ground may be all that remains of what Macalister (1916-17, 147) described as ‘what seems to be a low carn, covered with earth, and grass-grown’. The identity of the people buried here is not known. Iniscealtra is a national monument in state care, no. 5. (Macalister 1916-17, 146-7; Okasha and Forsyth 2001, 47-50) Compiled by: Mary Tunney Date of upload: 29 September 2015

A high cross, likely built in the 9th–10th century, associated with the early Christian site of Inishcaltra (Holy Island); its remains suggest a significant ecclesiastical and artistic tradition in the region.

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