What is recorded here

Nicholas Garvey, a Kilkenny burgess and legal official, died around 1580 and received a limestone chest tomb near the north wall of St Mary's parish church. The slab bore a raised eight-pointed cross and a Latin inscription naming him and possibly Robert Garvie, yet one edge was later chiselled away. That violent erasure suggests someone wanted to remove his name, his office, or both. The tomb has since disappeared, leaving only the wound of its loss and the question of who benefited from forgetting him.

At St Mary's parish church (KK019-026115-) in Kilkenny. Cover slab, mensa for chest tomb or ledger recorded by Carrigan near the N wall of the (present) chancel but current whereabouts unknown (Carrigan 1905, vol. 3, 92-3; Cockerham and Harris 2001, 184; Ó Drisceoil et al 2005, vol. 2, KKSTMG405). The slab commemorates Nicholas Garvey c. 1580 and was described by Carrigan as follows: 'a limestone slab set in the floor; one edge with the inscription has been chiselled away; down the centre is a raised eight pointed cross floree, with graduated base. What now remains of the inscription is: [HIC JACET DNS NI]COLAUS GARVEUS BURGE[N]S’ QUO[N]D{AM] KILKENIE, VIR MATUR’ ACCIU[M] MAGR. ET UTRIUSQ. IURIS BACCA[LAURIUS] ECCLIASTICA OFFICIALIS MUNERE SIMUL IN DUBLIN ET OSS’ EPI. FUNGENS QUARUM REGNI CANCELLARIA REGION’ MAGISTRATUS PRESIDE..MONUMENTU' The epitaph seems to commemorate two distinct persons. Nicholas Garvey is evidently the Nicholas Garvey of Kilkenny, burgess, pardoned July 7th 1574. The other individual commemorated here can be no other than ‘Robert Garvie of Kilkenny, professed in the civil law’’ (Carrigan 1905, vol. 3, 92-3). Compiled by: Cóilín Ó Drisceoil Date of upload: 4 January 2023

Chest tomb, likely medieval in origin. Its significance lies in its association with St Mary's parish church, indicating early burial practices within the ecclesiastical site.

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