What is recorded here

Cill Éinne, County Galway. Seventy-four centimetres of stone, double-ringed cross with T-shaped terminals, pulled from beside the north wall and buried in the northwest corner after 1952 to replace a lost quoin. The church needed a corner more than it needed a symbol, so the cross became a corner. Perhaps someone measured the gap, found the slab already cut to nearly the right size, and set it without discussion. What was sacred became structural in a single afternoon, and the ringed cross has held that corner ever since.

This cross-slab (L 0.74m; Wth 0.14-0.18m; T 0.19m) formerly stood within Teaghlach Éinne (GA119-020001-), near the N wall, but sometime after 1952 it was reused to replace a missing quoin stone at the NW corner of the church. It bears a linear double-ringed Latin cross with T-shaped terminals at the head and base. The arms end at the outer ring (Manning 1985, 117, Fig. 25(a) Slab B). (Higgins 1987, vol. 2, 367, no. 89) Compiled by: Olive Alcock Date of upload: 5 February 2016

Probably dating to the early medieval period, this cross-slab may have originally served as a Christian memorial or waymarker. Its later reuse as a quoin stone reflects common rural practices of repurposing ancient monuments in building maintenance.

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