Cross-slab in Ballynakill

One of five early medieval cross-slabs (see also LF013-045010-, LF013-045011-, LF013-045012-, LF013-045013-) attached to the W face of a display feature that has been constructed on the line of the E gable of a church (LF13-045002-). This cross-slab (H 0.75m; Wth 0.45m; T 0.08m) bears an incised ringed cross with decorated expanded terminals in false relief. Much of the central portion and the head of the cross are missing. Macalister (1949, vol. 2, 196) recorded a possible 'B', 'D', and some other letters of a now-illegible inscription. Compiled by: Patrick F. O'Donovan, Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 6 June 2013

Dateable to the early medieval period, likely 8th to 11th century AD, the cross-slab reflects a Christian tradition of marking sacred or territorial spaces. Such stones were often used for public worship, teaching, or as memorials, and their crosses may incorporate both Christian and earlier symbolic motifs.