What is recorded here

Half buried in the east wall of the High Island church, the triangular slab still wears its forked crosses and C-scrolls like a forgotten medal. It marked the oldest grave on the island before the church existed, meaning the building rose around a death already made sacred. The stones did not replace that life; they absorbed it, pulling the first marker into their own foundation as if the church had been born from the grave rather than erected above it.

Roughly centrally located in the graveyard (GA021-026026-) on High Island and incorporated into the foundation stones of the external face of the E gable of the church (GA021-026014-). Recorded by Fisher (2014, 204, no. 9, Fig. 7.2), this triangular cross-slab (H 0.68m; Wth 0.52m; T 0.15m) of garnet mica-schist forms the headstone of Grave 5, a dual-phased grave with a pre-church phase and a restructured phase contemporary with the church. The headstone is contemporary with the pre-church phase and the grave contained the earliest human remains on site, dating from the late 9th to the late 10th century. Both faces and the top edge of the slab are decorated. A Latin cross, in relief, with a plain tapering shaft and D-shaped terminals frames a central roundel, which bears a Greek outline cross with expanded limbs over which is incised a linear Greek cross with forked terminals. The upper angles of the quadrants are decorated with C-scrolls and bosses, similar to the adjacent headstone (GA021-026039-) to the S, and the fretwork flanks the shaft. The concealed W face and the top of the slab are incised with linear crosses with forked terminals. (White Marshall and Rourke 2000, 153, no. 21) Compiled by: Olive Alcock Date of upload: 19 November 2015

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