What is recorded here

Gallen Priory in County Offaly lost a cross-slab to time, but the surviving section still displays a cross with T-shaped terminals inside a simple ribbon border. The slab measures 0.56m x 0.33m and is 0.06m thick, small enough to hold in both hands yet large enough to carry a whole life’s weight of prayer. It was recovered from the graveyard during the 1980s and now rests in the NMI Collections Resource Centre in Swords, Co. Dublin, waiting for someone to remember why the cross was cut so cleanly.

Section of a slab (dims 0.56m x 0.33m; T 0.06m) with lower portion of carving of a cross with T-shaped terminals standing on a base set within a rectangular simple ribbon border defined by two lines. Slab was recovered from the graveyard of Gallen Priory, Co. Offaly, during the 1980s and is now housed in the NMI Collections Resource Centre in Swords, Co. Dublin (DU018-308----/DU011-157----). Compiled by: Caimin O’Brien Date of upload: 14 August 2012

Likely dating to the early medieval period, this cross-slab may have served a Christian memorial or liturgical function. The T-shaped cross terminals and ribbon border suggest a regional variant of Insular or Celtic cross design.

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