What is recorded here

Athenry, County Clare: Tomb, effigial, in a church or chapel. The chamber is not a building of pride but a chamber of loss. Rooms of this kind exist to give up breath, remember what was taken, and return the living person to the world changed.

This record is for the original location of an effigial graveslab found according to Harbison (1971, 31) within the walls of Dysert O’Dea church (CL025-091001-) in the 1960s. It was hung on the external S wall of the church (CL025-091001-) on the E side of the decorative doorway and is now housed in the OPW depot in Athenry (see GA084-151029-). Hunt (1974, vol. 1, 120) described this as ‘a fragment of a wedge-shaped slab bearing the lower part of a (presumably male) figure carved in very flat relief. The edge of the slab is bordered by a rope-moulding placed between two rolled mouldings. The figure is apparently portrayed in a surcoat, the lower part of which can be seen flaring outwards from the waist to a point above the knees. The outline of the legs appears below it, and these seem to be covered by the folds of a garment, but the details are very obscure because of the heavy exfoliation of the original surface. The bare feet splay outwards and downwards. The only remaining detail is that of the right foot which, oddly enough, is carved as a left foot.’ The following image has been uploaded: CL026-091006-_01.jpg View of effigial slab in its present location. Compiled by: Mary Tunney Date of upload: 6 September 2017

Effigial graveslab, medieval period; significant as a rare example of sculpted funerary art associated with Dysert O’Dea ecclesiastical site.

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