What is recorded here

Colonel Burton drew the plain expansional cross at Clonmacnoise before it vanished after 1822, leaving behind only the inscription OR DU DONAE LOAN and a gap in the grave field. The slab may have marked a donor, a devotee or a forgotten local hero, but the stone itself no longer exists to confirm the claim. What remains is a name suspended in air, waiting for someone to remember what it meant.

Clonmacnoise grave-slab inventory (1992) number: CLN00292 Dimensions: Unknown. Plain outline expansional cross. Inscription: 'OR DU DONAE LOAN' Evidence of discovery: Petrie 1872 - drawn at Clonmacnoise by Colonel Burton. Condition: Lost after 1822. Stokes, M. (1878) Christian Inscriptions in the Irish language, Vol 1, p XLVII, no. 119. 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

Dateable to the early Christian period in Ireland, likely 8th to 10th century AD, the cross-slab reflects a fusion of Christian and prehistoric artistic traditions. The inscription, possibly a personal name or dedication, suggests a commemorative or devotional function within a monastic or burial context.

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.