Cross-slab (present location) in Inishmurray

Brought to the Schoolhouse/OPW conservation store from Teach Molaise in the Cashel in 1989. First recorded by Wakeman (1893, 106, fig. 51) in a position facing the doorway of Teach Molaise (presumably set in the low wall which confines the approach to the doorway). Slab (H: 0.952 m, W: 0.558 m, Th: 0.044 m) with complex but damaged ringed and shafted cross motif filling its upper three quarters. The arms comprised pairs of false relief strands that formed Stafford knot terminals. The details of a large and complex interweave at the crossing is no longer recoverable. The ring is delimited by false relief strands between which are step twist features (32 originally). The inner and outer strands break at their bases and form the twin strands of the shaft sections above and below the encircling element respectively. 0.08 m below the ring the strands of the shaft turn outwards before developing into inward facing mirror spirals. 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: 12 March 2018

Probably dating to the early Christian period, the cross-slab likely served a religious or commemorative function, associated with a domestic or ecclesiastical site. Its relocation from a position facing the doorway suggests it may have had symbolic or protective significance.