What is recorded here

No one knows which burial ground holds the cross-slab or whether it still stands, because two places answered the same description and neither could be dismissed. That uncertainty is not a flaw; it is the shape of the evidence. A chamber may have had more than one door, or a memory may have pointed to more than one room. To insist on a single answer would be to stop listening.

In 1981 Prof. Rynne received information that was ‘another old burial ground’ on the ‘other side of the road nearer Kilroney’, in which there was ‘another cross-inscribed slab and traces of a church’. The field was known as ‘Aiarla’ (pers. comm. Prof. Rynne 1983). The burial ground may be that named ‘Aharla’ (GA110-049001-) on the OS 6-inch maps, in which Westropp (1895, 260) noted the foundations of a church (GA110-049003-). However, no visible surface trace of a cross-slab was noted on inspection. A note subsequently added to this record indicates that there may be some confusion over the burial ground being referred to and that another one to the NW of Kilronan (see GA111-003001-) may be the one in question. A cross-inscribed pillar (GA111-003002-) and a number of cross-slabs (see GA111-003003- to GA111-003007-, GA111-003009- and GA111-003011-) are located there. Unfortunately, the full context of the information received in 1981 is not known so the initial location suggested cannot be dismissed. Compiled by: Olive Alcock Date of upload: 3 February 2023 Westropp, T.J. 1895 Proceedings: Aran Islands. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 25, 250-74.

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