Graveslab, Gleninagh, Co. Clare

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Tombs & Memorials

Graveslab, Gleninagh, Co. Clare

In the stonework of a lodge chimney stack near Gleninagh Castle on the Clare coast, a seventeenth-century graveslab has spent decades hidden in plain sight.

The slab, bearing the date 1650 and a carved cross, was built into the masonry of the chimney at some point, repurposed as a building material rather than left to mark a grave. It is now largely invisible behind a thick covering of ivy and briar, which makes it one of those historical curiosities that requires knowing exactly where to look, and even then offers no guarantee of a clear view.

The slab was recorded by Spellissy in 1987, who noted its date and cross carving, while Cunningham, writing in 1980, had already observed additional text on the stone, though that text was indecipherable even then. The lodge itself sits roughly sixty metres south of Gleninagh Castle, a well-preserved tower house on the southern shore of Galway Bay. As for the graveslab's origins, the leading possibility is that it came from one of two nearby sites: a holy well approximately fifty-five metres to the north-north-west, or an ecclesiastical complex about a hundred and fifty metres to the south. Holy wells in Ireland were often associated with small burial grounds or votive sites, and a carved slab dated 1650 would fit naturally within either context. Whether it marked an individual grave, a chapel threshold, or some other funerary or devotional use is no longer legible from what survives.

The chimney stack where the slab is built in lies close to the castle, itself a notable structure on the Burren coast, so the area is not especially remote. The difficulty is the vegetation. The ivy and briar cover noted in recent years makes examining the stonework a matter of patience and seasonal luck, with winter or early spring offering the best chance of seeing through the growth to the masonry beneath.

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