What is recorded here

Half a metre of garnet mica-schist, torn from Cell B and dumped in rubble, still wears two expansive crosses with D-shaped terminals and looping C-scrolls. It sat hidden beside the church on High Island until excavation pulled it into light, proving the monastery kept decorated stone even in its smallest rooms. Now it rests in the OPW depot, waiting to be seen again.

Recorded by Fisher (2014, 217, no. 39, Fig. 7.7), this tapering cross-slab (H0.53m; Wth 0.53m; T 0.09m) of garnet mica-schist was found in rubble removed from ‘Cell B’, the clochan (GA021-026013-) to the E of the church (GA021-026014-) on High Island. Both faces are decorated. One face is filled with an expansional cross in relief with D-shaped terminals. The lower terminal may have enclosed a triquetra. Bosses are visible in the upper quadrants and at the top angles there are pairs of bosses linked by C-scrolls or peltae. The other face also bears and expansional cross; only the left and top D-shaped terminals are evident. The central area is lozenge shaped. This cross-slab is now in the OPW depot on the island - see GA021-026062- for original location. Compiled by: Olive Alcock Date of upload: 22 February 2023 Fisher, I. (revised by Scally, G. and Maddern, C.) 2014 Catalogue of cross-slabs. In G. Scally, High Island (Ardoileán), Co. Galway: Excavation of an early medieval monastery. Archaeological Monograph Series 10. Dublin. The Stationery Office.

This cross-slab likely dates to the early medieval period, associated with Christian monastic activity in the area. Its presence near a clochan suggests it may have had a liturgical or commemorative function within a religious context.

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