Cross-slab (present location) in Inishmurray

First recorded in the Men’s Cemetery (SL001-001029-). Removed to the Schoolhouse/OPW conservation store in 1989. Slab (H: 0.5 m, W: 0.655 m, Th: 0.09 m) with central slightly shafted outline cross (0.395 by 0.285 m) occupying its upper four fifths. It is formed from pairs of false relief twisting strands (two turns in each vertical, a single in the horizontals) with Stafford knot terminals and a simple interweve at the crossing. Each quadrant is contoured with another false relief strand which forms a single turn spiral at the terminals. The base is elaborated below the spirals with an incised skeuomorphic spike. To each side of the cross are two crosslets standing one above the other. They are slightly shafted with cusped-butted serifed terminals. The proportions and relative positions of the decoration to the slab suggest that is may have served as an altar frontal. The above description is derived from the results of a survey of the archaeological monuments on Inishmurray undertaken in 1997-1999 and published in: Jerry O’Sullivan and Tomás Ó Carragáin 2008 Inishmurrary. Monks and pilgrims in an Atlantic landscape. Volume 1: Archaeological Survey and Excavations 1997-2000. Cork. The Collins Press. Date of upload: 12 March 2018

Date likely to the early medieval period (7th–10th century AD), associated with the spread of Christianity in the region. The cross may have marked a burial site or served as a memorial within the Men’s Cemetery, reflecting both religious devotion and local funerary traditions.