What is recorded here

Inis Gé Thuaidh, County Mayo, holds three broken fragments of a tall rectangular slab carved with a Latin cross filled by linear interlace. The pieces emerged from two conjoined houses on Bailey Mór mound, where one fragment still stands upright in the shared wall and another lies buried beside it. Henry reconstructed the lost shape in 1951, revealing a small equal-armed cross at the heart of the larger design. The stone remains a National Monument, preserving a moment when human hands turned raw rock into a visible prayer.

At the ruins of two conjoined houses (MA023-014007-; MA023-014008-) on Bailey Mór mound (MA023-014003-). This cross-slab, now in three fragments, was found by Henry (1951, 65-66; Fig. 1; Pl. X; Slab 6) during her excavation of the two conjoined houses. Two fragments were found set in the top of the ruined N-S dividing wall between the two houses; the third fragment was embedded in the ground within one of the house (MA023-014007-). Henry (1951, 66, Fig. 1) published a sketched reconstruction of how the slab would have looked when intact. In its original state, the cross-slab was rectangular in form (Wth c. 0.55m; min. H 1.2m), decorated on one broad face with the incised outline of a Latin cross, which fills the length and width of the slab. The cross outline is infilled with an incised pattern of linear interlace. At the point where the shaft and arms of the cross intersect, the interlace pattern encloses at its centre a small, equal-armed cross with slightly expanded terminals. One large fragment of the cross-slab (the R-hand portion of the carved design) stands upright in the shared wall between the two houses; the incised decoration is weathered and difficult to see. Beside this on its S side is another fragment, deeply set in the top of the wall, the carving barely visible. The cross-slab is a National Monument in state ownership (no. 379). Attached images: MA023-014018-_01.JPG Fragment of cross-slab in wall of house, viewed from E MA023-014018-_02.JPG Detail of the carving MA023-014018-_03.JPG Reconstruction sketch published by F. Henry (1951, 66, Fig. 1) Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 12 July 2023 References: Henry, F. 1951 New monuments from Inishkea North, Co. Mayo. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquities of Ireland 81, 65-69

This cross-slab likely dates to the early medieval period and may have served a Christian commemorative or liturgical function. Its placement near domestic ruins suggests a possible link to a monastic or domestic religious context.

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