Graveslab

The National Monuments Service's description

In the chancel of the medieval church of Kilferagh (KK024-001001-), close to the N wall (Manning 2012, 144, 147). A 16th-century graveslab described by Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 224) as a, ‘long, narrow floor-slab, now fixed into the side wall. It is broken across the middle, where there is a small piece missing from side to side. The inscription, in raised Old English letters, runs round the edge in double lines, and ends on the shaft and arms of the raised central cross; it is as follows:
hic jacet Robert9 ff....quo[n]d[am] dns de kilferagh pricipal9 sue ge[n]tis q obiit …. Mcccccoxlo die vero xbi mes9 marcii dns d’balifro[n]k. et Patritius fforstal qu….s de kilfieragie qui obiit xbiii die mes9.. ilis et Elena Comerford ei9 uxor que obiit xxv die mes9 junii ano di mcccccclxviii q..aiab9 propieti ds.
Translation – Here lie Robert fforstal, formerly lord of Kilferagh and of Balifronk, chief of his nation, who died March 16th, 1540; and Patrick fforstal, formerly lord of Kilferagh who died April 18th, and his wife Ellen Comerford who died June 25th, 1568. On whose souls may God have mercy. The words “dns d’balifronk occur over the top of the cross, out of their proper place’.

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 14 September 2021

References

Manning, C. 2012 Kilferagh, Co. Kilkenny: a medieval parish and its church. Journal of Irish Archaeology 21, 139-56.

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