Graveslab, Rathmichael, Co. Dublin
Co. Dublin |
Tombs & Memorials
Against the southern wall of a ruined church on the eastern slopes of Carrickgollogan, a large flat stone lies propped and secured in a way that suggests someone, at some point, decided it needed protecting.
The stone is a graveslab, measuring one and a half metres long and just over half a metre wide, and its surface carries carvings that have been slowly losing the argument with time. Two sets of three concentric circles are cut into the face, each with a small cup-mark at its centre, though half of one of the outer circles has worn away entirely. At one end, five incised lines run in two groups, three angling towards one corner and two towards the other. The geometry is deliberate and considered, even if its original meaning is no longer recoverable.
The slab sits against the wall of the church ruins at Rathmichael, a site with a long ecclesiastical history in what is now the southern fringes of County Dublin. The carved decoration, documented by Ó hÉailidhe in 1957, belongs to a tradition of early medieval gravemarking in Ireland, where geometric motifs, particularly concentric circles and linear patterns, were used to distinguish burial stones. Such carvings are relatively rare and rarely well-preserved; the condition of this example, already significantly worn when it was recorded in the mid-twentieth century, illustrates how vulnerable these surfaces are to weathering over centuries of exposure. The stone is recorded in the archaeological inventory as associated with the church structure, reference DU026-050001, and a drawing of it appears in Healy's 2009 survey. A three-dimensional digital model can also be examined online at skfb.ly/oHrtu, which gives a clearer sense of the relief than photographs alone tend to allow.
Rathmichael church ruins are accessible to visitors, though the site sits in a semi-rural setting on the Carrickgollogan slopes and is best approached on foot. The slab itself is fixed to the exterior face of the south wall, positioned slightly off-centre towards the east, so it is worth working around the building rather than expecting it to be immediately visible on approach. The carvings are shallow and heavily weathered, so low-angled light, particularly in the morning or late afternoon, helps bring out what remains of the incised lines and circles. There is no interpretive signage for the stone specifically, so arriving with the digital model already loaded on a phone is a practical way to understand what the surface once looked like more fully.
