Graveslab, Killeely More, Co. Galway
Co. Galway |
Tombs & Memorials
In the townland of Killeely More in County Galway, there lies a graveslab, a carved or inscribed stone marker placed horizontally over a burial, of the kind that appears throughout medieval and early modern Ireland.
These slabs range from roughly dressed limestone with simple incised crosses to more elaborate pieces bearing effigies, lettering, or foliate knotwork, and they were used by communities who wanted to mark a grave with something more permanent than timber or earth mounding. That one survives here, recorded and catalogued as a monument in its own right, suggests it was considered significant enough to merit protection, even if the details of what it looks like, who it commemorates, and what condition it is currently in remain undocumented in any publicly available form.
The source material for this particular slab is, at present, extremely thin. It is listed as a monument in Killeely More, but the specifics, its date, its dimensions, any inscriptions or decorative carving, and its precise location within the townland, have not been made available. Killeely More sits in a part of east Galway with a long history of settlement, and graveslabs of this type in the region often date from the late medieval period through to the eighteenth century, sometimes marking the graves of local clergy, landowners, or members of prominent Gaelic families. Without further documentation, however, this one remains a largely anonymous piece of carved stone somewhere in a Galway field or churchyard.