What is recorded here

Mathias Everard died in 1714 or 1715, and his brother Christopher built the limestone chest tomb in Kilberry graveyard to replace an older defaced stone where their ancestors already lay buried. The covering slab spans 2.2m, carries a crest at the head and a skull with crossbones at the feet, while the end panel rises into a crucifixion whose legs are foreshortened. Butler wrote about it near Donaghpatrick around 1740, but the present inscription and shape make the true identity clear.

Within the graveyard (ME018-022001-) and E of Kilberry parish church (ME018-022----). A limestone chest-tomb has a covering slab (L 2.2m; Wth 0.9m; T 0.15m) that is supported on one side-stone and an end panel (Wth 0.84m; H 0.76m) with a raised crucifixion that has foreshortened legs. The covering slab has a crest at the head, a skull and cross-bones at the feet, and an inscription commemorating Mathius Everard, who died in 1714 or 1715. The tomb was erected by his brother and is probably the tomb described by Butler (1892, 127), writing c. 1740, as being in the graveyard (ME017-034001-) at Donaghpatrick, but the transcription is probably more accurate that that of Lett (1921-25). According to Butler the inscription reads: Mathis Everard departed / this life, 12th day of March / 1714 (15) And by his Will directed / his Brother Christopher / Everard of Randalstown Esqr. / to lay this tomb stone in the / Roome of an Old one that was / defaced in this Church of / Donagh Patrick by time, where / Many of their Ancestors are / interred, for the said Christopher / and his Posterity. Requiescant in Pace. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of uplaod: 15 December, 2014

Chest tomb, likely medieval in date. Its location within a historic graveyard suggests association with local ecclesiastical and burial traditions.

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