What is recorded here

The smallest cross-slab recorded at Clonmacnoise measured just over a foot tall, bore the name fragment NCHAI, and has vanished since Macalister saw it in 1949. A person named or remembered as Nchai may have lain beneath it, marked by no more than a thin stone and a cross whose end curves into forgetfulness. What is left is a hole shaped like a grave, holding only the shadow of a life that once stood notable enough to cut.

Clonmacnoise grave-slab inventory (1992) number: CLN00386 Dimensions: H 1ft 1ins, W 7.5ins, T 2ins Three line expansional cross with a semicircular terminal with an indistinguishable pattern. Inscription: Part of an inscription 'NCHAI' Evidence of discovery: Macalister 1949. Condition: Now lost.. 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 expansional cross may have had a liturgical or commemorative function, common in Irish high crosses and stone monuments of the period.

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