Graveslab in Gowran

Lying on the floor in the SW angle of a 19th-century C of I church which was built on the former chancel of the 13th-century church of St Mary’s (KK020-060006-) in Gowran. A straight-sided limestone slab (L 1.9m; Wth 0.69m) in relatively good condition, with some cracks towards the base of the slab around the top of the Calvary mount. The slab is decorated with a banded seven-armed floriated cross in raised relief. Beneath the cross head there is a two-barred knop on the cross-shaft with a horizontal stylised spear to the dexter side and a horizontal nail with downward bending point to the sinister side. The middle of the cross-shaft passes through a rectangle and rests on a stepped Calvary mount. The raised inscription in Latin, in black letter script, begins in the upper dexter margin and runs along the dexter side. The ‘M’ of the date is the last letter on the dexter side and the remainder of the date ‘ccccclv’ is carved within a panel on the Calvary mount. The inscription was transcribed by Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 405) as, ‘Hic jacet edmdu brenagh et Isabella Wale uxor ei q. obiit A.D. M. ccccclv’ and translated as, ‘Here lie Edmund Brenagh [Anglice Walsh], and Isabella Wale his wife, who died A.D. 1555’. It is listed by Cockerham and Harris (2001, 182). Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 20 August 2019