Monumental structure

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture, prominently sited on a roughly circular rise, with a steep fall of ground on the W side.
This late 17th-century monumental structure is indicated on the 1838 and 1915 OS 6-inch maps as a small square feature (max. dim. 3-4m), named ‘Monument’. It is evident now as a sod-covered, slumped mound of earth and large stones, with a roughly square base (max. dim. c. 3m; H 0.6m at E, 0.8m at W). It is incorporated into a NE–SW field wall, which overlies the S–SW edge of the mound. It appears originally to have been stone-built or stone-faced, and may have comprised a number of tiers. A memorial stone, now displaced, was originally part of the monument, dedicated to the memory of Bartholomew French, who according to local tradition, died following a fall from a horse. A rectangular stone slab (L 0.7m; Wth 0.55m; T 0.09m) is located 8m to SW of the mound, leaning against a low, lintelled sheep-gap in the field wall. One broad face of the slab has a rough surface, the other face is smooth, but covered by lichen. The edge of one short side of the slab is broken. According to local information, this is the memorial stone, and the inscription is said to have been ‘raised’ or in false relief, rather than inscribed. No carving/inscription can now be discerned on the stone surface.
The monument was, however, recorded in the early 20th-century by Lord Oranmore and Browne (1915-16, 116). He noted a 'small heap of stones' and stated that 'The greater part of the monument had been removed to build walls in the neighbourhood. Lying near it on the grass lay a memorial stone, the inscription of which is much effaced. I made it out to be as follows:-

PRAY FOR THE SOULE
OF BARTHELOMEW FR
ENCH DECEASED THE
16 OF SEPTEMBER
1688. AGED 78 YEARS
GOD BE MERCIFUL
UNTO HIS WIFE
MEGG FRENCH AND
HIS SON PATRICK
FRENCH WHO CAU
SED THIS MONUM
ENT TO BE MADE
FOR THEM AND
THEIR POSTERITIE
1689'

Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 4 February 2020

References

Lord Oranmore and Browne 1915-16 Memorial tablet to Bartholomew French: 1689. Galway Archaeological and Historical Society 9, 116.