What is recorded here

Five funerary monuments, including a tapered effigial slab from the 13th or 14th century, lay broken beneath the River Nore beside a late medieval bridge. They may have been defaced and dumped by iconoclasts during the Reformation in the 1540s, or simply reused as rubble to protect the bridge piers. Either way, the dead were reduced to building material, their names erased and their stones dragged into the water to hold up the feet of the living.

Five partial funerary monuments were recovered from the River Nore 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the archaeological excavations (01E0036) carried out in 2001 as part of the River Nore Drainage Scheme (Brady 2004, unpublished).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. 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 (KK019-026115-) c. 100m to the W, with St John’s Priory (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. An effigial tomb (L 1.62m; Wth 0.58m; T 0.15m), described by Brady (ibid., 46) as an, ‘eroded and much fragmented tapered effigial slab in four large fragments and a fifth fragment that is shattered into six pieces. The head and foot portions do not survive. A rounded edge and groove runs along both long sides. The slab is tapered from head to foot. Further details, and whether it had an image on its surface do not survive’. Stylistically this dates to the 13th/14th century. This slab is currently in storage with the National Museum of Ireland (see OF018-207----). 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 Unpublished final report.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: 17 January 2023

Effigial tomb; likely medieval in date. Its significance lies in its funerary carvings, which provide insight into medieval burial practices and social status in the Kilkenny region.

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