What is recorded here

Graveslab in Rathduff (madden) preserves a broken tapering stone from Kells Priory, marked by a four-armed cross with trefoil terminals and shaped to fit beside a wall. Its missing heart and scattered pieces suggest a tomb niche where prayer, death and memory pressed together in the fourteenth or fifteenth century. The canons may have stood before it in darkness, reading less than feeling the weight of the absent name.

One of a large number of graveslabs (KK027-029005-; KK027-029015-, KK027-029016-, KK027-029021- to KK027-029051-) found at Kells Priory for Augustinian canons (KK027-029004-) which have been described and catalogued by Higgins (2007, 453-67). A tapering slab (upper portion L 0.445m; Wth at top 0.46m; T 0.145m; mid-portion L 0.58m; Wth 0.35-0.4m; T 0.125m; lower portion L 0.58m; Wth 0.23-0.33m; T 0.125m) which is broken into at least four pieces, the portion immediately below the cross-head is missing. It is decorated in false-relief with a four-armed cross-head with trefoil terminals. The dexter edge of the slab is straight-sided, while the sinister edge is chamfered, which suggests that it was originally designed to be placed against a wall, probably in a tomb niche. Stylistically this graveslab has been dated to the 14th/15th century. (Higgins 2007, cat. no. 18, 462-3, fig. 7.2:5). Ref.: Higgins, J. 2007 The medieval funerary monuments. In M. Clyne, (ed.), Kells Priory, Co. Kilkenny: archaeological excavations by T. Fanning & M. Clyne, 453-67. Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Dublin. See attached: KK027-029035-_01 Illustration in Higgins, J. 2007 The medieval funerary monuments. In M. Clyne, (ed.), Kells Priory, Co. Kilkenny: archaeological excavations by T. Fanning & M. Clyne, 453-67. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 31 May 2023

Medieval Christian graveslab; associated with the Augustinian priory at Kells, significant as part of a large cemetery linked to a religious foundation.

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.