Graveslab (present location) in Leggetsrath West

Originally from the chancel of the medieval church (KD036-031008-) at Moone, Co. Kildare. Currently in the OPW store, Kilkenny (Kilkenny depot stone carving number: KD041). One of two of the pieces of this limestone graveslab stored in the depot (other KD040). Two of the pieces are stored in the Kilkenny Depot. The graveslab is described in the Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead of Ireland, ‘lying in a broken state on the north side of the ruined abbey’ of Moone and a transcription of the inscription is provided (1892, vol. 1, 1888-91, 192). In the early 1890s the broken fragments of the “Brine” slab were pierced tougher and laid, ‘in cement on a firm foundation of masonry-work’. The graveslab is described in 1986 by Bradley et al. (1986, vol. 4, 337-8) has been broken into three pieces. This piece is (L 0.995m; Wth 0.65m; T 0.13m) the lower portion of the slab with straight sides and the base of the slab relatively intact, the lower dexter angle is broken and a chip off the lower sinister angle. It is inscribed in English, in false relief in Roman capitals, in horizontal rows. The second piece of the graveslab (KK019-026403-) is from the upper dexter side (L 0.67m; max. Wth 0.57m; T 0.145-0.155m). The total width of the slab is 0.65m and the two slabs provide a length of 1.665m. When at its original location in Moone church the inscription was transcribed (Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead of Ireland, vol. 1, 1888-91, 192-3). The upper portion reads as follows, the letters in brackets are on the missing portion of the slab: EDMOND B[RINE] [AN] D JOHANNY [….] N HIS WIFE CA[USE] D THIS [M]ONVM[EN] T TO BE MAD[E] [IN] REMBRANCE O[F] [HI] S PARENTS D[ERM] OT BRINE AND [MORE] [C] VLLON W[HO] [D] EASE[D] A. [D. 1624] FOR [WHOSE SOULS ] The lower portion is a continuation of this inscription and reads: [PRAY] YEE IN C [HARIT]IE FOR AS [YOU] ARE [S]OE HA VE THEY BEEN AND AS THEY ARE YOU SHALL BE S ENE A DNI 1635 PATRICH BRINE Below the inscription there is an incised cross on a curving calvary mount which contains the letters HIS with a cross rising from the bar of the H. The cross arms, which are very worn, terminate with fleur-de-lys. There is a double ringed circle at the centre of the cross and two double ringed circles on either side with a sun within the dexter circle and a crescent moon within the sinister circle, though this very worn. There is a skull and crossed bones on the lower dexter side of the slab, with the remains of a robe or purse, quite cracked and spalled, below it. On the lower sinister side there is Peter’s sword and three dice. See attached photograph: KK019-026404-_01 (photograph by Chris Corlett) Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 30 January 2023

Medieval gravestone; 12th–13th century. Significant as a fragment of a funerary monument from a medieval church, reflecting early Christian burial practices and stone-carving traditions in Leinster.