Tomb - effigial

The National Monuments Service's description

National Monument No. 358. Episcopal slab. 13th/14th cents. In chancel. Tapering limestone slab with moulded edges, and missing the lower left corner. The wide end of the slab has the head of a bishop under a multi-cusped and pinnacled ogee-headed canopy in deep false relief. There are three small heads carved in the cusps, a circular trefoil design in the left spandrel and a worn circular design in the right spandrel.
Dims: L. 144 W 57-38.

Effigy of a bishop or abbot described by Hunt (1974, 152-3) as; 'In the middle of the church lies a wedge
shaped slab carved in flat relief with a mitred head and with five smaller heads disposed beside and above it, beneath an ogee cusped arch. On the dexter an inturned crozier with a decorated head of circular form, on the sinister, a spear (?). The slab is very much worn and defaced and the carving is scarcely visible. The style is provincial, and the slab probably dates to the early fourteenth century'.

The above description is derived from Bradley, J., et al. 1987 Urban Archaeology Survey Part XIV County Kerry (48). Unpublished report. Office of Public Works. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

See attached drawing of slab by William F, Wakeman dated 1894, taken from Hickson 1895.

Revised by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of revised upload: 9 May 2022

References

Bradley, J., Halpin, A., and King, H.A. 1987 Urban archaeological survey - county Kerry. Unpublished report commissioned by the Office of Public Works, Dublin.

Hunt, J. 1974 Irish medieval figure sculpture 1200-1600, 2 vols. Dublin. Irish University Press.

Hickson, M.A. 1895 Ardfert Friary and the FitzMaurices, lords of Kerry. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 25, 32-40, 330-37.