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Cross-slab in Clonmacnoise

Cross-slab

What is recorded here

Half a metre of worn stone stands in Clonmacnoise, its cross edges blurred until the median line and three-pointed centre emerge like a shadow remembering shape. Petrie read OR DO MUIEDACH into the faded marks in 1872, but the slab itself has worn that name back toward silence. What remains is a small vertical world: stone, rain, and the ghost of a cross large enough to be seen from a distance.
Clonmacnoise grave-slab inventory (1992) number: CLN00319 Dimensions: H 0.828, W 0.405, T 0.063 Barely decipherable outline of an outline expansional cross with median line, blank(?) semicircular termianls and centre with a trieskilon. Inscription: Unreadable. Petrie recorded it as 'OR DO MUIEDACH' Evidence of discovery: Petrie 1872. Condition: Very worn slab. National Monuments Service, Photo number: 81-170, 921 Stokes, M. (1878) Christian Inscriptions in the Irish language, Vol 1, p LVII, no. 139. 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
Early Christian period, likely 7th to 10th century. The cross design reflects typical Insular Christian symbolism, possibly used as a grave marker or commemorative monument, associated with the monastic settlement of Clonmacnoise.

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What survives
Recorded monument

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