What is recorded here

One defaced saint or angel still stands beneath a gabled canopy on a tomb fragment pulled from the River Nore, its headless companion and broken column testifying that reverence can be chopped into bridge stone. It lies in museum storage rather than Kilkenny, denied the water, traffic and light that shaped its loss, yet the carve work preserves more life than any polished display case.

Currently in storage with the National Museum of Ireland (see find location KK019-026273-). One of five partial funerary monuments which were recovered from the River Nore at Kilkenny City, Kilkenny during the archaeological excavations (01E0036) carried out in 2001 as part of the River Nore Drainage Scheme (Brady 2004, unpublished). These were found associated with the late medieval bridge (KK019-026070-), immediately N of the current John’s Bridge, Kilkenny. Brady (ibid. 22) suggests that these monuments were deliberately defaced and dumped in the river by iconoclasts during the Reformation in the 1540s. The closest church is St Mary’s parish church, Kilkenny (KK019-026115-) c. 100m to the W, with St John’s Priory, Kilkenny (KK019-026068-) a little further, being c. 200m to the NE. Doyle and O’Meara (2004, 16-19) contend that the these monuments may have been seen as a convenient supply of stone, and were deliberately reused as part of the rubble needed to form a protective apron for the piers of the late medieval bridge. Fragment of an effigial tomb (L 1.43m; Wth 0.83m; T 0.3m), described by Brady (ibid. 45) as a, ‘sculpted panel, possibly side-stone of sarcophagus tomb. Defaced outline of saint/angel framed beneath a gabled canopy. Octagonal column rises on left side with smaller (now headless) angel figure in upper left corner’. Other effigies carved within architectural canopies include that of a layman in Cashel, Co. Tipperary (TS061-025080-) (Hunt 1974, vol. 1, 224-5 (catalogue no. 234); vol. 2, plate 37) and a bishop at Ferns (Hunt 1974, vol. 1, 237-8 (catalogue no. 262); vol. 2, plate 65). Reference: Brady, N. 2004 Archaeological investigation and excavation John’s Bridge, Kilkenny: River Nore flood alleviation scheme. Excavation licence no. 01E0036. The Archaeological Diving Company Ltd. Unpublished final report. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 8 March 2023

Effigial tomb; likely medieval in date. It is significant as one of several funerary monuments recovered from the River Nore, reflecting burial practices and artistic traditions in medieval Ireland.

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