What is recorded here

Graveslab in Portumna Demesne is a broken 14th or 15th-century coffin-shaped slab lying in the chancel floor, marked by a Latin cross, floral shaft, knotwork circle, and the faint name HERNLI. It is the middle of three slabs before the east window, suggesting a small buried hierarchy rather than a random pile of stone. The clear cross and repeated fleur-de-lis panels mean someone wanted this death made visible, ordered, and remembered inside the church.

Within the chancel of the friary church (GA127-019----), this recumbent graveslab (L 1.91m; max. Wth 0.88; base Wth 0.74; T 0.09m) is the middle one in a row of three (see also GA127-019001-, GA127-019003-) set in the floor immediately in front of the E window. Described by Bradley and Dunne (1992, 163) as ‘bevelled coffin-shaped slabs’ of 14th/15th-century date. This slab, which is broken in two pieces, bears a Latin cross in low relief. The cross shaft (Wth 0.19m) is decorated with a repeated floral motif and there is a knotwork circle near the crossing. Each arm consists of a square panel: that to the S bears a Greek cross which was formed by subdividing the square into four segments decorated with fleur-de-lis motifs. The panel to the N has one large rosette. The slab is framed by a wide decorated panel (Wth 0.11m) along both sides and the base. An inscription below the N arm reads ‘HERN(?)LI’. The following images have been uploaded: GA127-019002-_01.jpg GA127-019002-_02.jpg GA127-019002-_06.jpg GA127-019002-_07.jpg GA127-019002-_08.jpg Compiled by: Olive Alcock Date of upload: 1 May 2019

Medieval Christian graveslab, 15th–16th century; significant as part of a set within a friary church, reflecting funerary practices and social status in the Portumna Demesne.

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