Cross-slab in Ballinlena

This cross slab was found in 1802 by Rev. James Little in Kilcummin graveyard (MA008-006007-). The following year he published a drawing of the slab, with an erroneous, fanciful interpretation of the incised inscription (Little 1803, 3-7). Little's published drawing shows a rectangular slab, with irregular or broken edges. A Latin cross extends almost the full length and width of the slab. The terminals of the horizontal members have a slight splay. The plain terminals of the vertical members are each incorporated into a horizontal incised line, asymmetrical in length, with the line at the lower terminal continuing to the edge of the slab on one side. These horizontal lines, incomplete in the drawing, most likely originally formed a continuous grooved frame around the entire the slab. An incised inscription fills the four quadrants of the slab flanking the cross. In three of the quadrants the letters of the inscription are followed by a small incised Latin cross. The Goidelic inscription was described by Petrie (1878, 46): ‘The inscription read as following: O~R~T~ || AR | AN || MAI | N+ || M~ | ET || ICH | + || +’ He interpreted this as OROIT AR ANMAIN MAC ETICH and gave the translation as ‘Pray for the soul of Mac Etich’. Macalister (1949, 13-14) gave the same reading, and provided a few details about the slab: 'I could not find it at Kilcummin: but a young woman who was passing by told me that she remembered seeing it when she was a child, and pointed to a dense growth of brambles, which, she thought, were covering it: they are against the south side of the church, outside. The main cross is flanked in its lower sinister [left] and dexter [right] quadrants by small equal-armed crosses. A third such cross is in the upper sinister quadrant, integrated into the text of the inscription. The first three of the four lines of text occupy the sinister and dexter upper quadrants of the cross. The fourth and final line runs across the two lower quadrants.’ Macalaister’s account suggests that the cross-slab was still in the graveyard in the 1940’s, but its exact whereabouts are now unknown. Another cross-slab (MA008-006003-) in located in the N half of the graveyard. Attached image: MA008-006004-_01.JPG Drawing of cross-slab in Little (1803) Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 15 July 2019

Probably dates to the early medieval period, associated with Christian worship or burial practices. The incised inscription may have had a liturgical or commemorative function, though its meaning remains uncertain due to past misinterpretations.