Graces Cross — Lacken (crannagh By.)

On the W side of an entrance gate to a house on the N side of the Tullaroan-Kilkenny road. Known locally as ‘Grace’s Cross’, an inscription in Gothic lettering was noted on the W face by Mason (1819, vol. 3, 610-11 with illustration op. 610). According to Mason the cross was designed, ‘to commemorate the melancholy fate of a young man of the family of Courtstown, who had been only two days married, when he was killed at this spot by a fall from his horse. On the west side of the pedestal is a shield with a lion rampant, impaling a chevron between three arrows, and under the shield the names of “edmund grace” and “catarin archer.” in alto relieve gothic characters. On the south side is inscribed in the same characters “cheill is death remember and think upon this cross when though dost see and pray for them that build this cros” The only words discernible on the north side are “sacr. – monumentum”. Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 200) adds, 'On what was the east side of the stone in 1819, but which now faces the south, may be read the following much obliterated inscription, also in raised Old English characters: ...f au......1619 [hi]s wife Cathrin Sheth has deceased the [ ] that bolt this cros' and suggests that this read, when entire, 'Edmond Grace deceased the 12th of August 1619; his wyfe Cathrin Sheth deceased this [date left uncut] that bolt [built] this cros[s]'. Though the lower portion of the cross is depicted in Mason's illustration of 1891, this was gone by 1905 and Carrigan (ibid. 199) notes that, 'the only part of it remaining is about half of the sculptured and inscribed base or socket'. The cut rectangular limestone cross base (H 0.5m; Wth 0.55m at E; 0.5m at S; 0.3m at N) currently rests on a two course plinth of concrete blocks. The W face is totally shattered. The upper surface is badly chipped but contains the remains of a rectangular mortice (0.25m x 0.23m). There is no decoration or inscription visible. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly and Mary Tunney Date of revised upload: 15 September 2020