Graveslab, Kilree, Co. Kilkenny
Co. Kilkenny |
Tombs & Memorials
In the chancel of St. Bridget's church at Kilree, a medieval graveslab lies almost exactly where it was placed centuries ago, still roughly centred near the east gable.
What makes it quietly remarkable is its precision of survival: a limestone slab nearly two metres long, bearing an incised fleur-de-lys cross with a stepped base, its upper surface worn smooth, its sides only roughly dressed. Someone of some importance was once buried beneath it, though who that person was remains entirely unknown.
The slab is straight-sided and slightly tapering, wider at the head than at the foot, a common format for medieval funerary slabs of this kind. The decoration, a four-armed cross terminating in fleur-de-lys forms, was a motif in wide use across Ireland and Britain during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the period to which this example is assigned on stylistic grounds. There is no inscription, so the identity of the person commemorated has been lost. The slab has not escaped entirely unscathed: a horizontal split runs across the upper portion, just beneath the cross-head, extending for about two thirds of a metre. It has not displaced the stone significantly, but the fracture is clearly visible. The church it occupies, dedicated to St. Bridget, is itself part of a broader early ecclesiastical site at Kilree that includes a round tower and a high cross, suggesting this was once a place of considerable monastic and community significance.
The graveslab sits 0.95 metres from the east gable and 2.33 metres from the south wall, measurements that suggest it has not been moved or disturbed in any obvious way. Visitors to Kilree who come for the round tower or the high cross sometimes walk straight past the roofless church without looking at what lies on the floor inside. The slab rewards a closer look, particularly the incised cross, whose lines remain crisp despite the centuries.