What is recorded here

Cross-slab in Churchland, County Offaly, is a 1.65m x 0.65m early Christian stone founded by St. Kieran the elder in the fifth century. Buried 12 inches below the graveyard soil until unearthed in 1938, it bears a well-preserved incised cross and now rests inside the C of I church. The slab survived centuries of forgetting, holding a shape of devotion that human hands kept returning to.

Founded by St. Kieran the elder in the fifth century (ITA Survey 1943). Early Christian cross-slab (L 1.65m; Wth 0.65m) that was unearthed in 1938 and described as buried 12 inches below the soil in the graveyard and posessing a well preserved cross incised upon its surface (Gilling 1938, 281, 285). Now housed inside the C of I church. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien. Date of upload: 23 May 2011

Early Christian period, likely 6th to 8th century; the cross-slab may have marked a grave or served as a monument within the early monastic settlement associated with St. Kieran. Its design reflects Insular Christian art traditions.

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