What is recorded here

Half a foot of stone, broken from a taller cross, still carries the ghost of a name beginning D. In Clonmacnoise, where generations lay beside abbey walls, even a fragment held more life than most monuments. Macalister found it in 1949, perhaps pulled from soil that had swallowed a whole shrine. The missing top may have shown Christ, a saint, or a knot of vines; the remaining edge proves only that someone shaped stone for grief and pride.

Clonmacnoise grave-slab inventory (1992) number: CLN00587 Dimensions: H 0.15, W 0.22, T 0.05 Part of an inscription beneath a single line. Inscription: 'D[E'. Evidence of discovery: Macalister 1949. Condition: Fragment.. The Clonmacnoise inventory was compiled by the Office of Public Works. A copy of the record for this slab is available for inspection in the relevant Archaeological Survey of Ireland (SMR) file. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien. Date of upload: 23 May 2011

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