What is recorded here

Half a metre of blue-grey mica-schist still stands at the east gable of the High Island church, its expansive cross and fretwork terminals carved for a grave that predated the building itself. The stone was pulled from beneath the soil and reset into the wall, turning a private marker into a public foundation. That act suggests the community believed the dead should help hold up the living, not be forgotten under it.

In the S half of the graveyard (GA021-026026-) on High Island, incorporated into the foundation stones of the external face of the E gable of the church (GA021-026014-). Recorded by Fisher (2014, 204, no. 8, Figs. 7.2, 7.12), this cross-slab (H 0.91m; Wth 0.73m; T 0.14m) of blue grey mica-schist formed the headstone of Grave 4, a dual-phased grave with a pre-church phase and a restructured phase contemporary with the church. It contained skeletal remains dating from the late 10th/early 11th century. The cross-slab is only decorated on its E face and almost the entire area is filled with an expansional cross in relief. Its D-shaped terminals extend to the edges of the slab except at the base where there is a margin. A bold band frames the central roundel and the terminals, the latter are filled with fretwork. There are four bosses in the quadrants of the cross. In the upper angles pairs of bosses are linked by C-scrolls or peltae. (White Marshall and Rourke 2000, 152, no. 19) Compiled by: Olive Alcock Date of upload: 19 November 2015

Probably dating to the early Christian period, this cross-slab was repurposed as a foundation stone in the church gable, suggesting reuse of prehistoric or early medieval Christian symbolism in later ecclesiastical construction. Its original meaning may have been religious or commemorative, though specific folklore or inscriptions are not recorded.

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