Wall monument

The National Monuments Service's description

At St Mary's parish church (KK019-026115-) in Kilkenny. Inscribed panel from Renaissance wall monument, composed of fossiliferous limestone, to Thomas Archer (d. 1617), which was originally set up, over a pair of stone burial vaults, against the S wall of the S transept of the church (Prim 1865, 305; Lawrence-Archer 1867, 229; Carrigan 1905, vol. 3, 93; Cockerham 2009, 355). The monument was removed from the wall and deconstructed in c. 1960 and fragments buried beside it in the entrances to the burial vaults. Enough fragments of the monument survive to indicate its original form as an elaborate Renaissance-style mural monument comprising of three arches flanked by pillars that frame the inscribed panel (Ó Drisceoil 2019, unpublished). The panel is semi-circular in plan, consisting of three separate combined slabs. The inscription is in a recessed rectangular text panel on the middle slab. A smaller separate recessed text panel contains 'D.O.M.', which combines with Celtic-revival interlace motifs. There is a small rectangular notch in the top of the middle slab. The inscription in false-relief, Latin, Roman capitals reads:
DOM
COMITATIS PRVDE[N]TIAE PIETAT
ISQUE LAVDIB ORNATV’
VIR CONSULARIS D. THOMAS
ARCHER VERI PAUPERUM
PATER, DIERUM AC MERITORUM
PLENUS HIC RELIQVIT
DEPOSITOM 14 JAN., 1617, QUOD
VT REPETAT CV[M] GLORIA PRE
CARE. MARGARITA CRANIS
BROVGHE RELICTA CONJVX, ET
HAEREDES MAESTI STATVERVNT
The slab was set into the floor of the Monuments Room following its removal from the S transept in c. 1960. It was moved to its present location in 2015.

Compiled by: Cóilín Ó Drisceoil

Date of upload: 4 January 2023

References

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.

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

Prim, J.G.A. 1865 Proceedings. Journal of the Kilkenny and South-East of Ireland Archaeological Society, 5 (2), 291-306

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 Unpublished final report for Kilkenny Archaeology.