What is recorded here

Graveslab in Athlumney church preserves the 1692 burial of William Gough and Ann Cheevers beneath a shield marked by goats and possibly boars’ heads. Isaac Butler copied its Latin warning in 1749, telling passing travellers to learn who lay hidden under the stone and ask God for heaven. The lettering has since faded, but the carvings still point toward two families, one church and the sudden edge of death.

Around 1749 Issac Butler recorded the Latin inscription on the graveslab dated 1692 of William Gough and his mother, Ann Cheevers, at Athlumney church, (Butler 1892, 24). It read: Hoc Monumentum est erectum inveri/ Bon AE Vite Boni Gulielmi Gough Memo/ riam./ Et Ejus Sponsae Matronae spectassimae/ Anno CHEevers quare hic tumulatur et/ Utr /usque Posteris Anno Domini/ 1692/ Tatu – Disce quis hac lapidum Submole Viator/ Conditur et Coelum Scandere posce Deum. A rectangular limestone graveslab (dims 2.05m x 1.09m; T 0.12m) in the nave has a raised heater-shaped shield at the centre that is divided by a line of chevrons. At least one goat taken from the Cheevers crest can be distinguished below the chevrons and the items above it could be boars’ heads from the Gough crest. There is a skull and cross-bones at the foot, but no inscription is discernible. It is also described by FitzGerald (1909-10) who does not provide the inscription, which is now illegible. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 3 July, 2014

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