Church

The National Monuments Service's description

This is an early ecclesiastical site attributed to St Patrick, whose first deacon was Justus (Kelly 1861-4), and the parish church of Fuerty listed as Fidard in the ecclesiastical taxation of Elphin in 1306 (Cal. doc. Ire. vol. 5, 224). It is situated on a slight knoll, and the ruins of a Church of Ireland church stand within a small graveyard (RO039-063002-) (dims 53m E-W; 40m N-S) defined by masonry walls, although the graveyard has been extended to the E (dims. 100m E-W; 40m N-S). Two sandstone cross-slabs (RO039-063003-; RO039-063004-) are displayed on the tower of the roofless church, and another lies in the graveyard (Wakeman 1890-1, 357-8; Crawford 1913; 160; FitzGerald 1910-12b; Macalister 1945, vol. 2, 14, 15; Herity et al. 1997, 117-8).
One slab (RO039-063003-) (dims 0.95m x 0.7m) has an incised two-lined ringed cross, a fish and the inscription 'or ar anmain aidacain' - pray for the soul of Aidacain. The other slab (RO039-063004-) (dims 0.9m x 0.7m) has an incised five-line cross with expanded terminals and the inscription 'or ar mór'. Fragments of a fourth cross-slab (RO039-063005-) (dims 0.3m x 0.15m) with a swastika motif were acquired by NMI in 1984 (Siggins 1988, 55-6), and a grave-marker (RO039-063009-) in the graveyard has a simple incised Maltese cross (Corlett 1998, 137). Archaeological testing (05E1414) immediately S of the graveyard failed to produce any related archaeological material (Casey 2009).

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 24 August 2010

References

Siggins, A. 1988 Some early Christian slabs from Fuerty and Clontuskert. Journal of the County Roscommon Historical and Archaeological Society 2, 55-9.

Herity, M., Kelly, D. and Mattenberger, U. 1997 List of Early Christian cross-slabs in seven north-western counties. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 127, 89-124.

Kelly, D.H. 1861-4 Account of inscribed stones at Fuerty, county of Roscommon. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 8C, 455-8.

Macalister, R.A.S. 1945 Corpus inscriptionum insularum celticarum. Dublin. Stationery Office.

Corlett, C. 1998 Three new cross-slabs and a Romanesque lintel from county Roscommon. Journal of the Roscommon Historical and Archaeological Society 7, 137-8.

Crawford, H.S. 1907 A descriptive list of early Irish crosses. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 37, 187-239; 43, 151-69, 261-65, 326-34.

Cal. doc. Ire. - Calendar of documents relating to Ireland 1171-1307, ed. H.S. Sweetman (5 vols., London, 1875-86).

Casey, M. 2009 Fuerty: no archaeological significance. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 2006: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 458, No. 1728. Dublin. Wordwell.

Wakeman, W. F. 1890-1 On the early forms of inscribed Christian crosses found in Ireland. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. 21, 350-8.

FitzGerald, Lord W. 1910-12 Fuerty churchyard. Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead in Ireland, 8, 623-5