What is recorded here

One broken side panel from Athassel Abbey still stands in a Kilkenny depot, its flat pilaster flanked by columns from two lost niches. The chest tomb belonged to the late 13th or early 14th century, large enough to stand free rather than lean against a wall. Five fragments remain, some glued back together after breaking, while another panel is displayed at the Rock of Cashel. What the tomb buried has not survived in the facts, but the shape suggests a person important enough to receive a room of stone instead of a hollow in earth.

Originally from Athassel Abbey (TS068-013----), Co. Tipperary. Currently in the OPW store, Kilkenny (Kilkenny depot stone carving number: KD031). One of five fragments of this chest tomb which are stored in the Kilkenny Depot (see also KK019-026383-; KK019-026393-; KK019-026394- and KK019-026396-), though three of the pieces consist of two or more pieces which have been glued together. A piece (L 0.277m; H 0.28m) of a side panel, composed on Dundry stone, with a flat pilaster (Wth 0.156m) flanked by the columns of two niches. The tomb pieces indicate that the Athassel chest tomb, of which one side panel is on display in the Vicars Choral (see TS061-025005-), at the Rock of Cashel, Co. Tipperary, was a free-standing structure (Manning 2005, 133). Dated by Hunt (1974, vol. 1, 219-20) and Manning (2005, 134) to the late 13th/early 14th century. See attached photograph: KK019-026395-_01 (photograph by Chris Corlett) Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 25 January 2023

Medieval Christian chest tomb, 13th–15th century. Originally associated with Athassel Abbey, it is significant as a fragment of a monastic funerary monument, reflecting the architectural and artistic traditions of the Irish medieval period.

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