What is recorded here

Cross-slab in Churchland is a seven-line incised stone from a fifth-century monastery founded by St. Kieran the elder. Crawford documented it in 1913 but called it missing in 1916, suggesting it may have moved rather than vanished. It may still stand embedded in the nearby Roman Catholic church built between 1899 and 1901, waiting to be recognised.

Monastery founded by St. Kieran the elder in the fifth century (ITA Survey 1943), consisting of an irregular shaped graveyard (OF039-003007-) with poorly preserved church (OF039-003005-) with gun turret at SE angle, base of round tower (OF039-003003-) at NW angle, base of high cross (OF039-003002-), cross-slabs, architectural fragments, 19th-century C of I church and medieval earthworks of a deserted medieval settlement enclosing graveyard from S through W to N and low motte (OF039-003----) to SW, all of which is contained within the impressive remains of a bivallate ecclesiastical enclosure (OF039-003001-). Early Christian cross-slab described by Crawford as 'a similar slab, incised with a seven line cross of similar shape, having the centre a crosslet, with spiral ends' (Crawford 1913, 265). By 1916 Crawford described this cross-slab as being missing (Crawford 1916, 166). This cross-slab may be the same slab (OF039-064----) that has been incorporated into the walls of the nearby Roman Catholic church that was built between 1899-1901. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien. Date of upload: 23 May 2011

Probably dating to the early medieval period, the cross-slab may have served a Christian commemorative or liturgical function, possibly associated with the monastery's religious activity. Its design may reflect local Insular cross traditions, though specific iconography or folklore linked to the stone is not recorded.

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