Graveslab, Shanagolden Demesne, Co. Limerick
Co. Limerick |
Tombs & Memorials
Lying in two sections at the chancel end of a vanished church, a limestone graveslab in the grounds of Shanagolden Demesne carries a date of 1545 and a Gothic inscription that has outlasted nearly everything around it.
The church itself is gone, reduced to a site rather than a structure, yet the slab endures, split but legible, its carved surface still reading as a deliberate and considered piece of commemorative work rather than a casual marker.
The slab was recorded in the Urban Archaeological Survey of County Limerick, compiled by John Bradley, Andrew Halpin and Heather A. King for the Office of Public Works in 1985. It is a tapering piece of limestone, roughly 195 centimetres long and narrowing from 95 centimetres to 69 centimetres in width, with a thickness of 20 centimetres. Its decoration is executed in false relief, a technique in which the background is cut away to leave the design proud of the surface, giving depth without full three-dimensional carving. The central motif is an eight-armed cross with geometric terminals, rising from a stepped base, a composition that places it firmly within the tradition of late medieval Irish funerary carving. The Gothic inscription reads IOANNE MOE followed by ISEAGHAN and the year 1545. The monument was also noted in the periodical Memorials of the Dead, published between 1898 and 1900, suggesting it was already recognised as significant well before the twentieth century.
The slab sits within the demesne grounds at Shanagolden, a small town in west County Limerick. Because it lies on private or managed land associated with the demesne, access may not be straightforward, and it is worth making local enquiries before visiting. The chancel end of a ruined church, where the altar would originally have stood, was traditionally a place of honour for burials, so the slab's position tells its own story about the status of whoever IOANNE MOE ISEAGHAN was in 1545. The split condition of the slab is worth noting on approach: the two sections remain in situ rather than having been moved or consolidated, which means the inscription and decoration can still be read across the break if you take a moment to look carefully at ground level.