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Cross-slab in Inishcaltra OR Holy Island

Cross-slab

What is recorded here

Inishcaltra, County Clare, Ireland: A small twelfth-century cross-slab stands close to the west wall of the Saint’s graveyard, its Latin cross carved in low relief and its corners marked with circular cuttings. Measuring just under a metre across, it fits the scale of a hand rather than a monument, as if someone placed a prayer into stone and left it beside the buried. The island has kept that shape through centuries of tide, wind and forgetting, still holding the angle of a devotion no longer spoken aloud.
Situated close to the W wall of the ‘Saint’s graveyard’ (CL029-009030-) on Inis Cealtra (21.3m from the S wall and 1.9m from the W wall). Noted by Macalister (1916-17, 156, no. 49) as of ‘twelfth-century type’ and described as a slab measuring 3ft 3in (0.99m) by 1ft 10in (0.55m), with a Latin cross in low relief with the angles hollowed with circular cuttings. (de Paor drawing, SMR file) Compiled by: Mary Tunney Date of upload: 22 October 2015
Likely dating to the 12th century, this cross-slab is associated with the early Christian site of Inis Cealtra (Holy Island), traditionally linked to Saint Gobnait. Such stones often marked sacred spaces or served as memorials and may have had both religious and territorial significance.

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

What survives
Recorded monument

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