Graveslab, Gardens, Co. Kilkenny

Co. Kilkenny |

Tombs & Memorials

Graveslab, Gardens, Co. Kilkenny

In the fabric of St Francis' Abbey in Kilkenny, a medieval graveslab has been quietly doing a second job for centuries.

Rather than marking a burial, it was repurposed as the northernmost lintel in the north ground-floor passage of the crossing-tower, a structural role that has left only its upper surface and right-hand side visible to anyone who knows to look. The slab itself was never meant to be read from this angle, and yet there it sits, load-bearing, largely concealed, its commemorative function long since surrendered to the demands of construction.

The slab dates stylistically to the thirteenth or fourteenth century, a period when Franciscan abbeys were among the most active centres of stone carving in Ireland. What can be seen of the decoration is precise and considered: a cross rendered in false relief, meaning the design is formed by the raised surrounding surface rather than by carving the cross itself in positive projection. The cross-head is four-lobed, with arms extending to either side of a raised shaft, and the terminals are finished with trefoils, the three-leafed motif common in Gothic ecclesiastical stonework of this period. The upper edge of the exposed face is chamfered, cut at an inward splay, which suggests the slab tapered toward what would have been the foot end of a grave. Raised edges along the sides are also visible, framing the decorated field. The overall form is that of a high-status marker, probably produced for an individual of some standing within the Franciscan community or among its lay patrons, though no inscription or identifying detail survives in the visible portion.

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