Wall monument

The National Monuments Service's description

Within a ruinous 17th-century church dedicated to St Michael the Archangel. One of two wall monuments (KK018-051004-; KK018-051005-) which were formerly within recesses in the church interior. With an inscription in English, it is described by Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 443) as a, 'small tablet about 2 ft. [0.6m] square, which was originally set up in the wall in the east end, opposite the Epistle side of the altar; it is inscribed in very small incised letters:
D. O. M.
HEERE LYETH THE BODY OF WILLIAM SMYTH
OF DAM[M]AG EDQ. SOME TIME SECRETARIE
TO JAMES EARLE OF ORMOND AND OSSORIE.
Long after all was made, I made, was marr'd
By error of my parents ere I err'd.
For to the world I came (through theyre ofence)
A sinnfull creature in myn innocence.
Through al my life sinnes burthens on me lay,
Yet the dere Lamb of God tooke them awaye.
Reader, each frend (at least) remember mee
And doe as I (in life) thus did for thee.
Lord helpe all those which have helpen mee
Or prayed for mee, or showed to mee anye deed or pittye
IN DOMINO OBDORMIVIT 24 DIE MENSIS APRI:
ANNO SALVTIS 1655'.
Holahan (1883, 83-6) also has a transcription of this slab with some small differences in spelling and it is listed by Cockerham (2009, 361).

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of revised upload: 7 July 2020

References

Holahan, Rev. J. 1883 Notes on the antiquities of the united parishes of Ballycallan, Kilmanagh and Killaloe. Transactions of the Ossory Archaeological Society 3, part 1, 81-122.

Carrigan, Rev. W. 1905 (Reprint 1981) The history and antiquities of the diocese of Ossory, 4 vols. Kilkenny. Roberts Books and Wellbrook Press.

Cockerham, P. 2009 My body to be buried in my owne monument: the social and religious context of Co. Kilkenny funeral monuments, 1600-1700. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 109C, 239-365.