What is recorded here

Cross-slab in Inishmurray is a cross-slab in Inishmurray, County Sligo, Ireland. Wakeman recorded the slab at Crossatemple in 1886, but it is no longer there. His sketch shows it protruding 0.6 metres from the surface, 0.3 metres wide and 0.05 metres thick. He said two crosses were sculpted on it, though lichen and time had almost erased one side.

Recorded by Wakeman (1886, 317, fig. 75; 1893, 143, fig. 75) as mounted on the leacht (SL001-003001-) at Crossatemple (Station of Mary) but clearly not the slab (SL001-003002-) presently positioned there. Wakeman’s general sketch of the leacht suggests the slab protruded 0.6 m from the surface, was 0.3 m in width, and 0.05m thick. He says it has been 'sculpted with two crosses, but the carving on one side has become almost entirely obliterated by time and the growth of lichen - so much so that it is impossible to trace the design with any degree of certainty.' This implies that the cross on one face may have been reasonably well preserved, but he gives no details of its design. The whereabouts of this cross-slab are unknown. The above description is derived from the results of a survey of the archaeological monuments on Inishmurray undertaken in 1997-1999 and published in: Jerry O’Sullivan and Tomás Ó Carragáin 2008 Inishmurrary. Monks and pilgrims in an Atlantic landscape. Volume 1: Archaeological Survey and Excavations 1997-2000. Cork. The Collins Press. Date of upload: 16 January 2018

Probably dating to the early Christian period, the cross-slab may have had a liturgical or commemorative function, possibly associated with the nearby "Station of Mary," suggesting a later medieval Christian tradition or pilgrimage site.

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