Memorial stone, Dublin South City, Co. Dublin
Co. Dublin |
Memorials
Most visitors to St Audeon's on High Street in Dublin pass through it as a footnote to the city's medieval fabric, drawn by the fabric of the building itself rather than anything lying underfoot.
Yet set into the nave floor is a rectangular limestone slab that rewards a closer look, its inscription cut in Roman capitals into the stone surface, commemorating one Thomas Harvey, who died in 1677.
St Audeon's is the only surviving medieval parish church in Dublin, dedicated to Saint Ouen of Rouen and long associated with the city's Anglo-Norman community. The memorial stone to Harvey sits within the nave, the central body of the church through which a congregation would have processed and gathered. Roman capitals, the upright letterforms derived from classical Latin inscriptions, were a common choice for commemorative stonework in the seventeenth century, lending a note of permanence and formality to the record of a life. Limestone, the material used here, was the standard medium for such work in Dublin, being locally available and relatively amenable to incised lettering. Beyond his name and date of death, the notes record nothing further about Harvey himself, and the stone gives little away beyond the fact of his commemoration.
The church is managed by the Office of Public Works and is generally open to visitors during the summer months, though hours can vary and it is worth checking before making a specific journey. The building sits at the edge of the old city walls, close to Cook Street, and the nave is accessible on guided tours that also take in the medieval fabric of the structure. The memorial stone lies within the nave, so it is visible to anyone admitted to that part of the building. It does not announce itself, and is easily overlooked among the other remnants of the church's long use, which is part of what makes it worth pausing over.