Tomb — chest tomb in Kilmore Upper

Mounted on top of a mausoleum inside the W wall of the graveyard associated with the old cathedral (CV025-070004-) of Kilmore towards its S end. When William Bedell, the Protestant Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh since 1629, died in February 1642 he was buried in accordance with his wishes in an obscure corner of the graveyard, but the funeral was attended by many of the Catholic rebels who had recently imprisoned him at the castle of Clough Oughter (CV020-060----) as he was greatly respected as the compiler of an Irish grammar and (in collaboration with three others) was the first translator of the Old Testament into the Irish language (Manning 2013, 2506). A vault had been provided by 1739 (King 1892, 10) and it may have been renewed shortly afterwards with the graveslab supported on the roof. The sandstone tablet (dims 2.04m x 1.03m; T 0.08m) has a bevel or chamfer on its upper edge and the carving is in false relief. Beneath a crest with a mitre are the memento mori of an open book, a skull and cross-bones and an hour-glass. The incised legend is now almost illegible but it has been recorded (Lyster 1896) as: GUILELMI BEDELI / QUONDEM KILMORENS / IS EPISCOPE…. / DEPOSITUM, which is also carved around the tympanum over the W doorway of the modern cathedral (Blacker 1904, 226). Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 16 March 2020