Graveslab, Killora, Co. Galway

Co. Galway |

Tombs & Memorials

Graveslab, Killora, Co. Galway

Inside the ruined church at Killora, Co. Galway, five recumbent graveslabs lie where they were placed several centuries ago, and one of them carries a name that has outlasted almost everything else about the person it commemorates: DONEL O HILANE.

The inscription is separated by large incised dots, a detail that draws the eye before the irregularities of the lettering itself become apparent. The letters vary in size, and several are incorrectly shaped, giving the carving the quality of something made with sincere effort but limited training. That combination of devotional intent and technical awkwardness makes the slab quietly arresting in a way that more polished funerary work rarely is.

The slab measures 1.86 metres in length, tapering from 0.63 metres at the top to 0.50 metres at the base, and its main feature is what researcher Robert M. Chapple, writing in 1995, described as a large incised ringed cross calvary. A ringed cross calvary is a cross set on a stepped base, with a circle intersecting the arms, a form with deep roots in early Christian iconography. Here, the panels where the arms of the cross meet the ring have been incised to create what looks like raised decoration but is in fact an optical effect, a technique sometimes called false relief. Curiously, the outer edge of the ring breaks off at the points where the head and side arms of the cross would ordinarily project beyond it, leaving those sections uncut. Whether this was intentional or simply unfinished is not recorded. The slab also carries a border of two parallel incised lines running along its edges. Although the stone itself is undated, its style places it within 16th or 17th century burial traditions, and the two slabs lying immediately to its north and south share comparable carving characteristics, suggesting they may come from the same workshop or carver.

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