Graveslab

The National Monuments Service's description

Lying flush with the floor slabs in the centre of the chancel of St Mary’s church (KK026-010012-), Callan. A floriated and banded limestone slab (L 1.96m; Wth 1.11m) which is almost intact, though the uppermost portion (H c. 0.15m) is missing, it appears to have been deliberately cut horizontally across the top. The upper and lower dexter border is also missing. The slab is decorated in raised relief with a seven-armed segmented cross-head with fleur-de-lys terminals and a flower within each of the quadrants of the segmented head. There is a circular knop beneath the cross-head. The cross-shaft rests on a stepped base. Beneath the knop a band extends horizontally across the cross-shaft and drops on either side of it. On either side of the vertical band three is a shield and according to Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 298), that on the sinister side has no armorial bearings while that on the dexter side is charged with a chief indented. Above the sinister shield there is an IHS monogram and above the dexter shield there is the word, ‘Maria’, representing Christ and Mary respectively.
A Latin inscription in raised Black Letter script is visible along the border (Wth 0.1m), beginning on the upper sinister side and continuing along the bottom of the slab and on the surviving dexter border, as well as on the bands on either side of the cross-shaft. It has been transcribed by Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 298) as, ‘.ic jacent Jacobus throdyi quoda burgesis ville Calanie qui obiit xxiii Mai A.D. Mccccc …….Calfe uxor ei q[uorum] aiab ppi[cietur] de Hic jacent Willi Et Robertus Et Johan[nes] f…..i qi Willi obiit A. D. Mccccclii xx die Nov’ and translated as, ‘Here lies James Throdyi formerly burgess of the town of Callan, who died May 23rd 15….. Calfe, his wife. On whose souls may God have mercy. Here lie William, Robert, and John, his sons, which William died Nov. 20th, 1552’. In a revision of his work, Carrigan (unpublished 1921) amended the inscription 'xxiii Mai' to 'iii Mai' changing the date of James Throdyi's death to the 3rd of May and changed the month of William's death from November to October (Ó Fearghail 1996, 98-9).

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 16 July 2019

References

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

Ó Fearghail, F. 1996 Some Ossory medieval inscriptions revisited. Old Kilkenny Review 48, 94-105.