What is recorded here

Half a cross, two arms snapped clean, yet the heart still burns: a six-petalled marigold locked inside three circular lines, each petal joined by a thin arc that makes the whole disc pulse like a living thing. Clonmacnoise gave up this small stone without a name, without a date, without even a complete shape, but the geometry refuses to disappear. Perhaps it marked someone young, someone loved so fiercely that the carver spent more time on the flower than on the words.

Clonmacnoise grave-slab inventory (1992) number: CLN00120 Dimensions: H 0.15, W 0.18, T 0.035 An outline cross with a six or eight petal marigold pattern inside a three line circular frame. The cross of arcs is emphasised by lines connecting the petals. No inscription. Evidence of discovery: OPW 1954-58 Condition: Fragment. Part of two cross arms remain. National Monuments Service, Photo number: 81-404. 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, possibly 8th to 10th century AD, given the style of the cross and marigold design typical of Insular Christian art. Such slabs were often used as grave markers or commemorative monuments in monastic or ecclesiastical contexts.

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