What is recorded here

Graveslab (present location) in Raheen (athenry By.) holds a broken male figure whose right foot is carved as a left, preserving an unusual mistake or hidden intent from its maker. The slab came from Dysert O’Dea church in county Clare, where it hung beside a decorative doorway before moving to the OPW depot in Athenry. Its bare feet splay downward through worn folds, suggesting a man once remembered through little more than legs, garment and that strange reversed foot.

According to Harbison (1971, 31), this effigial graveslab was originally found within the walls of Dysert O’Dea church (CL025-091001-) in county Clare. It was hung on the external S wall of the church on the E side of the decorative doorway. Hunt (1974, vol. 1, 120) describes it as ‘a fragment of a wedge-shaped slab bearing the lower part of a (presumably male) figure carved in very flat relief. The edge of the slab is bordered by a rope-moulding placed between two rolled mouldings. The figure is apparently portrayed in a surcoat, the lower part of which can be seen flaring outwards from the waist to a point above the knees. The outline of the legs appears below it, and these seem to be covered by the folds of a garment, but the details are very obscure because of the heavy exfoliation of the original surface. The bare feet splay outwards and downwards. The only remaining detail is that of the right foot which, oddly enough, is carved as a left foot.’ The slab (H 1m; Wth 0.49m; T 0.6m), the upper left part of which is now missing, is housed in the OPW depot in Athenry. Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Olive Alcock Date of upload: 18 October 2017

Medieval effigial graveslab; significant for its artistic and funerary context within a ecclesiastical site in the late medieval period.

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