What is recorded here

Graveslab in Lagavooren holds the broken limestone tomb of Christopher Ledwiche, sheriff of Drogheda, and his wife, both deceased in 1642. Its divided shield bears C.L. and A.B. above a chevron with three eagle heads, marking a powerful local family buried immediately south of the church. The slab still lies cracked in the graveyard, preserving a brief inscription and a heraldic warning that authority and love once shared the same grave.

Limestone slab broken in two and situated in the graveyard immediately S of the church. A heraldic device in false relief has a shield divided with the letters C.L. and A.B. above the arms. The arms on the left are a chevron with three birds' heads, possibly eagles. The inscription briefly says 'hereunder lieth the corpse of Christopher Ledwiche sheriff of Drogheda and his wife who deceased 1642'. (CLAJ 1945, 26; Bradley 1984b, 96-7). One of four tomb or memorial slabs (see also LH024-041091-, LH024-041102-and LH024-041104-) located in the modern church and graveyard; all are seventeenth-century in date. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Survey of County Louth' (entry 943) (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1991). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 21 June 2013

A 17th- to 18th-century Christian gravestone; significant as a rare surviving example of early heraldic funerary art in the region.

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