Tomb - effigial

The National Monuments Service's description

from King (1987, 301): ROBERTSTOWN II. Graveslab 1688. This effigial slab, to the memory of Francis and Catherine Plunkett of Ardmagh, has also fallen into the crypt of St. Bridget’s Church. The carving is in high relief and apart from the two effigies, there is an angel’s head on the upper part of the slab, a skull in the lower right corneer and a dog at the feet of each effigy. The dog on the left is turned on his back under his mistress’s feet while the larger dog sleeps on his stomach – his tail trailing oever the edge of the slab. The smaller female figure is carved almost in the round and is set in a reond-headed recess. Her husband brandishes a sword above his head and holds a shield with the Plunkett arms in his left hand. There is also a three-line inscription in Roman capitals running vertically and horizontally around the top of the slab. It is extremely worn, burt was read in 1865 by Du Noyer: THIS MONVMENT / WAS ERECTED FOR FRANCIS PLUNKET of / ardm…e in the / year 1688 / who deceased THE tre of may / 1682 and for / cathrin plvn / ket his wife who erected / this monvment / whose sovl / GOD have mercy / amen (Letters in lower case are from Du Noyer). Above the skull are some letters, unnoticed by Du Nower, but which may read MEMTO MORI.
Dimensions: L 2.48m; Wth 1.24m; T 0.15m. (Cogan 1862-70, 2, 276; Smith 1889; Ní Shuilliobháin 1987, 308-13)

Date of upload; 9 July, 2014

References

Cogan, Rev. A. 1862-70 Ecclesiastical history of the diocese of Meath: ancient and modern. (3 vols) Dublin: John Fowler, Joseph Dollard

Ní Shúilliobháin 1987 The Robertstown, Co. Meath, effigial grave-slab: an historical footnote. In E. Rynne (ed.) Figures from the past: studies on figurative art in Christian Ireland, in honour of Helen. M. Roe, Dun Laoghaire, Glendale Press.

Smith, O. 1889 Churchyard – Townland of Robertstown, Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead in Ireland, vol. 1, 99-100.

King, H.A. 1987 Seventeenth-century effigial sculpture in the north Meath area. In E. Rynne (ed.), Figures from the past: studies on figurative art in Christian Ireland in honour of Helen M. Roe, 283-307. Dun Laoghaire. Glendale Press.