What is recorded here

One end piece of the Athassel chest tomb fits the knighted panel like a forgotten handshake, preserving the shape of a free-standing monument dated to the late 13th or early 14th century. It traveled from Athassel Abbey to a Kilkenny store, where broken stone was joined again and identity remained visible through its dimensions. The tomb no longer blocks a doorway or marks a named dead person, yet it still presents the made world: a chamber, a niche, and the possibility that someone knelt before it.

Originally from Athassel Abbey (TS068-013----), Co. Tipperary. Currently in the OPW store, Kilkenny (Kilkenny depot stone carving number: KD030). One of five fragments of this chest tomb which are stored in the Kilkenny Depot (see also KK019-026383-; KK019-026393-; KK019-026395- and KK019-026396-), though three of the pieces consist of two or more pieces which have been glued together. An end piece (Wth 0.19m; H 0.18m; T 0.124m) of a side panel, composed on Dundry stone, with the lower angle of a niche defined by columns, terminated by a flat pilaster. A smaller piece of the pilaster had broken away and has been glued. This piece seems to fit neatly onto the dexter side of the fragment with the two knights (KK019-026393-) and there are indications that it was previously glued to it. The depth of this piece is less than that of the main block to which it appears to fit, however, this appears to be deliberate and not the result of breakage or spalling. The tomb pieces indicate that the Athassel chest tomb, of which one side panel is on display in the Vicars Choral (see TS061-025005-), at the Rock of Cashel, Co. Tipperary, was a free-standing structure (Manning 2005, 133). Dated by Hunt (1974, vol. 1, 219-20) and Manning (2005, 134) to the late 13th/early 14th century. See attached photograph: KK019-026394-_01 (photograph by Chris Corlett) Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 25 January 2023

Chest tomb, likely 13th to 15th century. Associated with Athassel Abbey, a Cistercian monastic site, indicating ecclesiastical and funerary significance in medieval Ireland.

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