What is recorded here

Yellow-brown sandstone, a ringed cross carved edge to edge, lies inside a disused schoolhouse in Lemanaghan. It came from the seventh-century monastery founded by Manchán, whose name still shadows the place and whose feastday returns each January. Children may have walked past it for generations, unknowing that the stone had already survived the loss of the church that made it.

A monastery at Lemanaghan (Liath Manchán) was founded in the 7th century by Manchán whose feastday is celebrated on the 24th of January (Ó Riain 2011, 429). Early Christian cross-inscribed slab currently located inside the disused Lemanaghan schoolhouse. Described by Crawford (1911, 152-3) as a ‘sandstone slab of irregular shape, fine in grain and yellow-brown in colour. The dimensions are 23 inches (0.58m) by 15 inches (0.38m) by 4½ inches (0.11m) thick. The carving takes the form of a ringed cross of two lines, incised and filling the entire length of the stone. The lower end of the shaft is pointed and the top furnished with loops. The arm may have had similar loops, but they cannot now be made out with any certainty. The stone is lying against the boundary-wall in the north west corner of the graveyard (OF015-004004-)’. Compiled by: Caimin O’Brien Date of upload: 25 April 2014

Likely dating to the early Christian period (7th–9th century), the cross-slab is associated with the monastery founded by St Manchán and may have served a liturgical or commemorative function. It reflects the spread of Christianity in the region and is linked to local saints and traditions.

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