Graveslab in Gowran

Lying on shelving within the 17th-century mortuary chapel adjoining externally the S wall of the nave of the 13th-century church of St Mary’s (KK020-060006-) in Gowran. The upper portion of a very thick, tapering sandstone slab (L 0.75m; Wth at top 0.53m; Wth at base 0.48m; surface Wth top and base 0.4m; T 0.3m). It is chamfered around the top edge and then roughly dressed straight-sides. The slab is decorated in false relief with a very unusual cross-head. The cross-head consists of a cross shaft and arms of deeply incised parallel lines (Wth 0.06m) terminating in an incised circle (diam. 0.06m). Within the cross-arms, where they meet the shaft there is an incised rectangle (dexter L 0.06m; H 0.09m; sinister L 0.09m; H 0.07m) with diagonal lines. On either side of the top of the cross there is an incised circle (diam. 0.06m) and below each there is an incised lozenge (H 0.09-0.11m; Wth 0.06-0.1m). Below the cross-arm on the dexter side there is an incised circle (diam. 0.07m) and there was probably a corresponding circle on the other side of the cross-shaft but it doesn’t survive. It is possible that this is the upper portion of a stone, now broken, described by Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 406) as a, ‘pillar stone 5½ ft. [c. 1.67m] high, 1 ft. [c. 0.3m] wide and the same in thickness, with an incised cross of rare and ancient design, near the top. It now stands upright in the floor of the nave near the west gable’. As the stone tapers the width may have been taken on the lower portion. Also Carrigan’s description suggests that the stone was embedded in the floor of the nave and thus the total height was probably greater than c. 1.67m. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 18 September 2019