Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Headstone
Gardens (kilkenny City By., St. Mary’s Par.), County Kilkenny, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Gardens (kilkenny City By., St. Mary’s Par.)
- County
- Kilkenny
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Latest-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Coordinates
- 52.65189, -7.25188
- SMR number
- KK019-026348-
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesUniversity Library, Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 4 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1790 "Composite: Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
At St Mary's parish church (KK019-026115-) in Kilkenny. A headstone commemorating John Shee Fitzmichael (d. 1634) reused as grave-cover in the N transept of the church. Uncovered beneath the 18th-century floor level and on the medieval floor level in the 2015 excavation (12E0314) (Ó Drisceoil 2019, unpublished).
A finely-finished, rectangular slab (L 2.02m; Wth 0.59m; T >0.1m) with vertical sides, composed of fossiliferous limestone, covered a probable stone-lined grave (not excavated). It bears an inscription in raised Roman lettering commemorating John Shee Fitzmichael (d. 1634), below a large IHS monogram. The bottom (E) end of the stone is blank. The slab appeared to be narrower than the stone-lined grave below and may not have been its original cover. Instead, the stone may originally have been an early example of a freestanding headstone. The inscription in finely executed raised roman lettering reads:
IHS
N CVIVS·SOCIIETATE·MILITAVIT
ILLERVEM·HIC·LAPIS
FECIT·JOANNES·SHEE·MIC
HAELIS FILIVS·QVIS FVE
SITEX ALIIS DISCE VIAT
OR·VIDERIT·HOC OLIM
OR·BIS VNIVERSVSVSET
AVIDIET·AVDI·TV·QVOP·NV
NC·EDOCENTEMM·ET·E
TVMVLO·CLAMANTE
M·MORTVI·QVI·IN
DOMINO·MORIVN·TVR·OPER
A·ENIMILLORVM·SEQVVN
TVRILOS·HAEC·COGITA
ET·MEMOR·MORTIS·
O·OBIIT OCTOBRIS
1634
The slab remains in situ and on view in the N transept of the church.
Compiled by: Cóilín Ó Drisceoil
Date of upload: 9 January 2023
References
Ó Drisceoil, C. 2019 Excavations at St. Mary's Church and Church Lane, Kilkenny 12E0314. Unpublished final report for Kilkenny Archaeology.
Nearby in the register
- Wall monumentunder 1 mi
- Sarcophagusunder 1 mi
- Tomb - chest tombunder 1 mi
- Tomb - chest tombunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.