What is recorded here

Clear water laps the island shore where a tall sandstone slab still stands beside the church. One face carries a ringed cross with scrolled ends, while the other bears a plainer cross marked by worn pocking. The island has no visible entrance, so the slab may have marked a buried path, a drowned road or a threshold between worlds.

This tall sandstone slab is cross-inscribed on both faces and stands a short distance from the SW corner of the church. Of regular elevation, it is 1.63m high, measures .51m in maximum width and averages .lm thick. The E face is smoothly dressed and is inscribed with a two-line outline cross, the head of which is ringed by a single line. The angles of the cross are recessed and its shaft rises from a rectangular base. The head and shaft are framed by a groove which terminates above the base in simple scrolls that contain recessed roundels. The upper angles of the slab each has an angular groove, ending in a bifid terminal which encompasses a recessed roundel. The W face of the slab, which is roughly dressed, bears an outline Latin cross with open-ended terminals. The grooves which form this cross feature clear traces of pocking. The above description is derived from O'Sullivan, A. and Sheehan, J. (compilers) 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University press. (1996), no. 974. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 18 June 2013

This cross-slab is likely of early medieval Christian origin, associated with the ecclesiastical site on Church Island. It may have served as a memorial or liturgical marker, reflecting the spread of Christianity in the region during the 7th to 10th centuries.

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