What is recorded here

An unknown chisel cut a shallow rectangular basin into the bedrock beside the closed Clonard church, leaving no visible marker for the hands that shaped it or the purpose that justified the labour. The stone still holds its smooth flat bottom and sharp edges, waiting for water, oil, cream or tears. St Finnian's monastery may have stood above that hidden work, but the trough itself gives nothing back except the patience required to carve it.

There is no evidence of ancient or medieval structures in the graveyard (ME047-007001-) at the site of the parish church of Clonard and the probable site of St Finnian's early monastery (ME047-007----), apart from a face corbel (ME047-007004-) in the tower of the now closed Church of Ireland church that was built in 1810 and a rectangular, flat-bottomed trough (dims 0.91m x 0.54m; D 0.37-0.39m) of uncertain date and function cut in the bedrock just SW of the surviving church. (Wilde 1850, 56-8) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 9 April, 2015

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