What is recorded here

Graveslab from Inis Cealtra, cut for Ordomael Patraic in the 12th century, now rests in an Athenry depot after leaving the south wall of St. Caimin’s church. Its inverted name and hollowed cross suggest a buried life made visible through stone, perhaps marked by someone who knew the island’s tide of memory. Raheen holds it safely, yet the slab still points back across the water, waiting for the story of Ordomael to be remembered.

When recorded by Macalister (1916-17, 158, no. 63, and plate XIX), this graveslab (see CL029-009036- for original location) was on the S wall of St. Caimin's church (CL029-009011-), on Inis Cealtra (Holy Island), Co. Clare. It was exhibited in Mountshannon in August 1982 and was then placed for safe keeping in the OPW depot in Athenry, Co. Galway. The slab (H 0.96m; Wth 0.38m; T 0.06m) is irregular in shape and well-preserved. The face is dressed and deeply incised with an outline Latin cross hollowed at the angles and resting on a trapezoidal base. An inscription in two lines is incised above the cross and inverted and it reads ‘ORDOMAEL PATRAIC’ (with the OR overlined). It was dated by Macalister (ibid.) to the 12th century. (Okasha and Forsyth 2001, 83-5) Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Olive Alcock Date upload: 10 March 2023

Medieval Christian graveslab, 7th–10th century; significant as part of the early monastic site of Inis Cealtra, an important religious center in the pre-Norman period.

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