What is recorded here

Graveslab in Athenry is a tapering stone that served two different dead. It first marked a ploughman with a cross and farming tools carved beside the stem. Later someone chiselled away the cross head and wrote the name of Mary Kennamore, wife to Iohn Hanly, who died in 1792. The slab was last seen set into the south wall of the nave, but it had disappeared by 2018.

This tapering graveslab was recorded by Macalister (1913, 218, Pl. VIII, No. 8) who noted that it had been used twice. The original slab bore an incised cross on a calvary of three steps with the occupational symbols for a ploughman: a plough sock on the dexter side of the stem of the cross and a coulter on the sinister side. The head of the cross was subsequently chiselled away and the following inscription was added: 'Lord have |mercy on the | Soul of Mary | Kennamore | wife to Iohn Ha | nly who died Nov | 1792 Aged 49 | years'. The slab was located in front of the westernmost wall monument (GA084-001070-) in the S wall of the nave. It could not be located on inspection in October 2018. (Bradley and Dunne 1992, 40-41) Compiled by: Olive Alcock Date of upload: 12 November 2018

Christian graveslab, medieval period; significant for its incised cross and occupational symbols, reflecting early Christian funerary practices in Ireland.

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