What is recorded here

In 1934, a broken cross-slab emerged from Gallen monastery soil, carrying an eight-century-old compass drawing of arcs that stop short of touching. The gap leaves a small diamond and a central hole, inviting a finger to complete what the chisel refused. St. Canoc founded the site in 492, but this fragment belongs to later hands who believed suggestion could be sacred. Nine slabs from that excavation still line a display wall, waiting for viewers to finish their unfinished geometry.

West Wall, West Facing, North off centre. Diagram A10 Inventory of Carved Stone ID 000038 Dimensions: Height .255m Width .26 m Cross Slab fragment. Irregular outline. It bears a compass drawn double outline equal armed cross or petal design, the petal tips truncated. The arcs cross short of the centre leaving a small lozenge shape in the middle with a small central circular depression. The cross is enclosed in a tripe outline circle. Description from Inventory of Carved Stone, National Monuments Service Archive. Kendrick, JRSAI 69 (1939) p. 19 (A110), Fig. 11. Possible 8th-century cross-slab with a four-lined cross-of-arcs, also forming a cross pattée design with central hollow, and small incised crosses in the four quadrants of the cross pattée, all of which is framed within a triple-lined circle (Lionard 1961, 111, Fig. 4). Gallen was the site of an Early Christian monastery (OF014-029008-) founded by St. Canoc in 492 AD. A large collection of early Christian cross-slabs (OF014-029003-) dating from the 8th/11th-centuries were uncovered along with the site of an early medieval church (OF014-029008-) during excavations at Gallen in 1934-5 (Kendrick 1939). This cross-of-arcs type cross-slab is one of nine cross-slabs to come from Gallen monastery (Lionard 1961, 112). A large selection of cross-slabs were inserted into a display wall on the site of the excavated medieval church. To see a 3D model of this cross-slab, visit; https://skfb.ly/oxs6R Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 24 August 2022

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.