Graveslab, Laughanstown, Co. Dublin

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Tombs & Memorials

Graveslab, Laughanstown, Co. Dublin

In a small graveyard on the western side of a church in Laughanstown, County Dublin, there is a stone slab that rewards close attention.

It is not especially large, measuring 0.74 metres long and 0.52 metres wide, and at first glance it might easily be passed over as an unremarkable piece of old masonry. Look carefully, though, and faint traces of a Greek cross, a cross with arms of equal length, can still be made out on its surface. On the back of the slab there is a small hole, the purpose of which is not explained by the surviving record, but which quietly suggests the stone had a more considered function than simple grave-marking.

The slab is documented in the work of Ó hEailidhe, writing in 1973, and is also noted by Swords in 2009. Beyond those references, the historical record for this particular stone is sparse. That it sits in a graveyard associated with a church places it within a long tradition of early Christian grave-marking in Ireland, where incised crosses on flat slabs were used to consecrate burial sites or mark the graves of individuals of local religious significance. The Greek cross form is among the simpler and older variants found on such monuments, though without further excavation or documentary evidence, precise dating for this example remains uncertain.

The slab sits close to the gate on the western side of the graveyard, which makes it relatively easy to locate without having to search the full extent of the site. The incised cross is faint, and good light is helpful; an overcast day can flatten the surface detail further, so a visit on a bright morning, when low-angled light catches the stonework, will give the best chance of seeing the decoration clearly. The small hole on the reverse is easy to overlook if the slab is not examined from both sides. It is the kind of site that asks for a few minutes of quiet looking rather than a hurried glance.

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