What is recorded here

That is the Headstone in Gardens (kilkenny City By., St. Mary’s Par.). It stands out because it preserves a rare local voice from 1634 and still lies where it was found. The story is not about a grand building or a famous battle. It is about one man, one church, and one line of memory kept alive in stone.

At St Mary's parish church (KK019-026115-) in Kilkenny. A headstone commemorating John Shee Fitzmichael (d. 1634) reused as grave-cover in the N transept of the church. Uncovered beneath the 18th-century floor level and on the medieval floor level in the 2015 excavation (12E0314) (Ó Drisceoil 2019, unpublished). A finely-finished, rectangular slab (L 2.02m; Wth 0.59m; T >0.1m) with vertical sides, composed of fossiliferous limestone, covered a probable stone-lined grave (not excavated). It bears an inscription in raised Roman lettering commemorating John Shee Fitzmichael (d. 1634), below a large IHS monogram. The bottom (E) end of the stone is blank. The slab appeared to be narrower than the stone-lined grave below and may not have been its original cover. Instead, the stone may originally have been an early example of a freestanding headstone. The inscription in finely executed raised roman lettering reads: IHS N CVIVS·SOCIIETATE·MILITAVIT ILLERVEM·HIC·LAPIS FECIT·JOANNES·SHEE·MIC HAELIS FILIVS·QVIS FVE SITEX ALIIS DISCE VIAT OR·VIDERIT·HOC OLIM OR·BIS VNIVERSVSVSET AVIDIET·AVDI·TV·QVOP·NV NC·EDOCENTEMM·ET·E TVMVLO·CLAMANTE M·MORTVI·QVI·IN DOMINO·MORIVN·TVR·OPER A·ENIMILLORVM·SEQVVN TVRILOS·HAEC·COGITA ET·MEMOR·MORTIS· O·OBIIT OCTOBRIS 1634 The slab remains in situ and on view in the N transept of the church. Compiled by: Cóilín Ó Drisceoil Date of upload: 9 January 2023

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