What is recorded here

Half a metre of yellow sandstone, no more, yet enough to mark a body beneath Lough Leane water. The cross still points in four directions inside its circle, one arm chopped away, the inscription reduced to shadows under the stone. A person stood there once, perhaps grieving, perhaps proud, and placed a whole life behind a palm-sized symbol. The abbey window now holds what the earth released, forcing the dead to share light with the living.

Incorporated into the E window of an abbey church (KE066-072001-). A small yellow sandstone slab (dims. 0.26m x 0.15m) with an incised cross-in-circle motif, now damaged. The linear cross (H c. 0.10m) has wedge-shaped terminals. One horizontal arm survives (L 0.05m) and it was probably an equal-armed cross originally. Part of an inscription is visible beneath the motif, though not decipherable. Comparable in size and style to the Latteragh, Kilell and Conwall slabs (Kelly 1988,) and this example at Innisfallen is closely linked with similarly inscribed slabs at Clonmacnoise, Cloghinch and Inishmore. Possibly 8th-century in date and, by virtue of its size, may have been placed with the burial (Kelly ibid.). The cross was first recorded in 1995 and its original location is not known. (Weaver 1995) M. Weaver 1995 'An architectural survey of Inisfallen Island, Lough Leane, Co. Kerry.' MA Thesis, Dept. of Archaeology, UCC. Compiled by: Mairéad Weaver Date of upload: 17 February 2011

Date likely to the early medieval period, possibly 7th to 10th century, given the cross-in-circle motif commonly associated with Christian symbolism in Ireland. It may have served as a funerary or commemorative marker, or been part of ecclesiastical furnishings before being built into the abbey church.

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