What is recorded here

Half a metre of fossil limestone buries a forgotten life beneath the Kilkenny church floor. Carved windows stare out from the stone chest, waiting for eyes that stopped coming centuries ago. The missing cover slab vanished into time, leaving clay and rubble behind. What disappeared might have been a person, a promise, or a warning never spoken aloud.

At St Mary's parish church (KK019-026115-) in Kilkenny, in-situ on the E side of the N wall of the N transept. It was uncovered, sealed beneath a late 18th-century floor level in the 2015 excavations (12E0314) (Ó Drisceoil 2019; 2020, 169). A rectangular late 16th-century chest tomb (L 2.1m; Wth 0.85m; H 0.5m), built of fossiliferous limestone, set on a chamfered plinth. The front (S) panel shows geometric stylised Decorated-style church windows. The left (W) side panel shows a crisply carved Decorated-style geometric church window. The right (E) and rear (N) sides were stone walls. The interior is filled with clay and rubble. The cover slab was missing when excavated but a previously recorded fragment of a mensa (KK019-026313-) with a date of 1543 may have derived from the tomb. The chest tomb is on display in situ within the N transept. Compiled by: Cóilín Ó Drisceoil Date of upload: 10 January 2023

Chest tomb, medieval period. Its in-situ position and sealing beneath 18th-century floor levels suggest a long history of use and adaptation within the church fabric, indicating continuity of sacred space.

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