What is recorded here

Half a metre of fractured stone, the cross-slab named CLN00427 in Clonmacnoise, still carries a vertical trace of MARTHINE beside an expansional cross with a plain semicircular end. Petrie saw it in 1822; now it is a fragment on the point of disintegration, its median line and stem barely holding the shape of the dead person’s marker. Whatever Marthine was, the church and field swallowed the story, leaving only a broken outline and a name standing upright in weathered stone.

Clonmacnoise grave-slab inventory (1992) number: CLN00427 Dimensions: H 0.49, W 0.57, T 0.07 Outline expansional cross with median line and plain semicircular terminal expansion. The slab is badly fractured and on the point of disintegration. Inscription: 'MARTHINE' runs vertically down (?) the slab. Evidence of discovery: Petrie 1822. Condition: Fragment with stem and terminal of cross. National Monuments Service, Photo number: 81- Stokes, M. (1878) Christian Inscriptions in the Irish language, Vol 1, p XV, no. 40 Lionard, Early Irish Grave-slabs, PRIA 60(1959-60), p 132, Fig 23, no. 14 (POSSIBLE ????). 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

Date likely to the early medieval period, given the Christian cross form typical of monastic sites like Clonmacnoise. It may have served as a grave marker or commemorative monument, reflecting the area's historical role as an important religious centre.

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