What is recorded here

Half a metre of pale stone, broken at the base but still standing in the Clonmacnoise inventory, carries a paddle-shaped cross and the crude name AED across its upper arm. That much is clear. What is not clear is who AED was, whether a monk, a child or a passing trader, or why someone cut a cross large enough to mark a grave but left the angles hollow and the letters uneven. The slab does not explain itself. It waits beside the river for someone to remember that ordinary people died there too.

Clonmacnoise grave-slab inventory (1992) number: CLN00180 Dimensions: H 0.56, W 0.557, T 0.03 A plain outline ring cross with hollow angles. The arms of the cross seem to taper from the centre in a paddle shape. Inscription: Across the upper arm of the cross is the inscription 'AED' in fairly crude lettering. Evidence of discovery: A rubbing taken by J. Graves and W.M. Hennessey in 1869. Condition: Base of cross stem broken off. National Monuments Service, Photo number: 81-33, 265 Stokes, M. (1878) Christian Inscriptions in the Irish language, Vol 1, p XXIX, no. 74 Lionard, Early Irish Grave-slabs, PRIA 60(1959-60), p 120, Fig 15, no. 13. 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 (7th–10th century AD), associated with Christian monastic activity in Clonmacnoise. The ring cross may have had a liturgical or commemorative function, reflecting the site's historical role as a religious centre.

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