Armorial plaque (present location), Townparks, Co. Offaly

The separation alone is curious enough, but the objects themselves carry considerable weight. Each is rectangular, carved in false relief, a technique in which the design is raised from the surface rather than cut into it, giving the impression of depth without actually recessing the stone. Both display a full achievement of arms, meaning a heraldic composition that typically includes a shield, helmet, crest, and supporting devices, and both are dated to the mid-sixteenth century.

They are believed to have come from the gate piers of Fort Castle in Townparks, Co. Offaly. Gate piers were the obvious place for such displays; a coat of arms mounted at the entrance to a fortified residence was a public statement of lineage and authority, visible to anyone approaching. Removed from their original setting, the plaques passed into separate custody at some point, and their current locations place them far from the context in which they were designed to be read. The Kildare Archaeological Society Journal of 1941 discussed the plaques in some detail, suggesting they had already attracted scholarly attention by that point, even if they remained little known outside specialist circles.

The plaque now held in the library is accessible in a way the original gate piers never quite were, positioned for inspection rather than intimidation. The one in the Castlebarnagh golf clubhouse occupies a more unexpected setting, though both survive in reasonable condition given their age and the disruptions of the intervening centuries.