Wall monument

The National Monuments Service's description

At St Mary's parish church (KK019-026115-) in Kilkenny. A Renaissance mural monument, built of fossiliferous limestone, for Richard Rothe Fitz Edward (d. 1637) against the W wall of the N transept (Carrigan 1905, vol. 3, 94-5; Cockerham 2009, 358; Phelan 1996). The present position of the monument is 1m higher than its original (Carrigan ibid.), which was on top of a paved limestone predella, uncovered in 2015 excavation (12E0314) (Ó Drisceoil 2019, unpublished). Beneath the predella is a large stone burial vault containing coffin burials. The monument was raised to its present position in 1877, as recorded by an inscription on the chest tomb front-panel:
THIS MONUMENT WAS RAISED FROM ITS ORIGINAL POSITION AND REDECORATED BY LIEUT. COL. LORENZO ROTHELAST SURVIVING SON, AND ANN SALISBURY WHITE OF KILLAREE
COy. OF DUBLIN, SECOND DAUGHTER OF THE LATE GEORGE ROTHE ESQ. OF SALISBURY COy. OF KILKENNY. A.D. 1877.
The surfaces of the monument are painted but it not clear how much, if any, of it is original, and it probably dates to 1877. The mural monument is the work of Patrick Kerin and comprises of four tiers: a chest tomb beneath a half-tester and entablature. Resting above the latter is the third tier, an aedicule with a central cartouche below an entablature. This is beneath a fourth storey, the crown. At the top of the crown of the monument is a finial that is painted in black with a memento mori in white of a skeleton holding a cross and hour-glass. The finial sits above a cartouche with a heraldic shield of Rothe impaling Knaresborough. The floriated mantle of the shield is painted red. A pair of black-painted obelisks and a heraldic shield rest on the cornice of the upper entablature. Both shields are crowned by mini-finials. The shield on the right shows Rothe impaling Archdeacon and that on the right depicts Rothe impaling ?Ormonde. The top of the third storey - the entablature - comprises a projecting moulded cornice above a blank frieze and moulded architrave. The entablature crowns the aedicule. This bears a central cartouche which is flanked by pairs of Corinthian columns with capitals painted in red and gold. The columns rise from pedestals ornamented with Tudor roses. Each plinth is flanked by an acroterian in the form of a black-painted finial with a grotesque mask at its base. A heraldic shield with the arms of Rothe and Grace, quarterly, impaling those of Archer, sits within a framed rectangular panel. The motto SOLA SALVS SERVIRE DEO is painted on a scroll beneath the shield. Underneath are the names RICHARD ROTH., IVAN. ARCHER. The heraldic shield lies beneath a mantle coloured in red on top of which sits the Rothe device. The corners of the cartouche contain white-painted anthemion motifs on a background of green.
The third storey rests above the entablature of the second tier. The cornice of the latter is moulded, projecting from the frieze beneath. This is elaborately painted with exotic foliage including vines, flowers and a geometric interlaced foliage motif. The frieze in turn, rests above a moulded architrave. Below the entablature is a double round-arched half-tester canopy painted black with gold soffit rolls. The spandrels of the arches are occupied by heraldic panels, each with Rothe impaling. In the centre of the two arches is a projecting pilaster with a volute capital below which is a shield with the arms of Rothe impaling Grace. A central panel that carries the main inscription is flanked on either side by a pair of Corinthian columns, painted black with red and gold capitals. The inscription is incised and painted gold. It is in Latin Roman capitals and reads:
DOM
RICHARDVS ROTHE EDWARDI FILIVS
HVIVS CIVITATIS NATALITIAE MVNERIBVS PRAECIPVIS
HONORIBVSQ PRAECIPVIS HONORIBVSQ MAGNA CVM PROBITATIS PRVDE[N]TIAE
INTEGRITATIS AC VRBANITATIS LAVDE
PERFVNCTVS
TERRAM SE TERRAE REDDITVRVM NOSCENS
VIVENS CONDEBAT
PRIMVS CONDITVR
SECV[N]DO:JVLII:1637
BENE ILLI PRECARE QVISQVIS ES
SIC TIBI ALII BENE PRECENTVR
On the right of the column pedestals is carved:
OPIFICE PATRICIO KERIN
The lowest tier is formed by a chest tomb which comprises a plain mensa with moulded chamfered edges. The front panel is also plain apart from the 1877 inscription, as detailed above. The base of the altar-tomb is a moulded plinth.

Compiled by: Cóilín Ó Drisceoil

Date of upload: 9 Janurary 2023

References

Ó Drisceoil, C. 2019 Excavations at St. Mary's Church and Church Lane, Kilkenny 12E0314. Unpublished final report for Kilkenny Archaeology.

Phelan, M. 1996 The O'Kerin School of Monumental Sculpture in Ossory and Its Environs in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 126, 167-181.

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.