Tomb - effigial

The National Monuments Service's description

Knight's effigy (lost).
Hickson (1892-4, 137; 1895, 330-6) describes seeing an effigy of a knight with a sword. Cross reference with KE021-115003-

Tomb surround described by Hunt (1974, 152-3) as; One and a quarter miles north-east of the
old railway station at Ardfert is a holy well, known as Tober na Molt [KE021-115002-]. There, part of a tomb-chest, perhaps an end, thirty-nine inches [1m] long and twenty-three inches [0.58m] high, is built into a rough stone 'altar' close to the well. It is alleged to have been brought here from Ardfert Friary [KE020-047----]. It is carved with three ogee-headed niches with foliate spandrels, containing figures. That on the dexter side is an ecclesiastic with a mitre holding a crozier and blessing with his right hand. The sinister figure holds a book and could be female. The central figure is indeterminate. The robes fall in tubular folds. The carvings are much worn and eroded, but it is possible to recognize that they are very provincial in style and primitive in execution. The date must be somewhere in the sixteenth-century, but it is interesting to note the presence of the schematized 'C' shaped ear found constantly in the Western carvings persisting'.

Revised by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of revised upload: 9 May 2022

References

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.

Hickson, M.A. 1892-4 Note to Ardfert Cathedral. Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead in Ireland 2, 137.

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

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 Unpublished report commissioned by the Office of Public Works, Dublin.