Armorial plaque (present location) in Townparks (galway By., St. Nicholas Par.)

Four plaques are set high up in a south-east facing wall in the yard to the rear of the Connacht Tribune premises: three have been set upside down. It is clear that they are not in their original location and their provenance is unknown. The carving is very weathered and is similar on each of the plaques which undoubtedly formed part of a much larger monument or commemorative architectural feature. The style of carving and shield shape is comparable with others in Galway and a 16th century date would not be inconsistent with the evidence. Each plaque consists of a raised panel with a narrow border on which is carved a shield in false relief. The plaques are described in order beginning with that at the south-west. Plaque 1: This plague (set upside down) bears the impaled arms of two families, possibly French (dexter) and a variant of Lynch (sinister): these identifications are at best tentative. The shield is flanked by the letter ‘C’ (sinister): the corresponding section of the plaque on the other side is damaged. Plaque 2: This plaque (set upside down) bears a version of the coat-of-arms of the Joyce family. Plaque 3: This plaque bears an unidentified coat-of-arms. The shield displays the arms of the French family flanked by letters ‘C’ and ‘F’. Plaque 4: This plaque (set upside down) bears a merchant’s mark which consists of a truncated reversed 4 type with crosslet terminal to the horizontal bar rising from in inverted V with crosslet terminals. The junction of the 4 and V elements is overlapped by a broken annulet or circle. Similar merchant marks are found in Galway (see Walsh 1993). (Korff et al 1990, Letter B) Compiled by: Paul Walsh Date of upload: 18 July 2014