Graveslab

The National Monuments Service's description

Located in Sligo Dominican friary (SL014-065008-), on display against the N wall of the chancel.
This interesting graveslab may have originally lain recumbent over a grave or was possibly the lid of a coffin-tomb. It has the typical trapezoidal or coffin shape of late medieval graveslabs, however it is unusual in that the positioning of the inscription and decorative carvings suggests that the graveslab was inverted, with the broad end at the base instead of at the head of the grave.
The surface of the slab is worn, and the original carvings are now difficult to trace. A groove formed a frame around the outer edge. A Latin inscription, carved in a late form of Lombardic script, extending over five rows, fills the upper section of the slab, but it is now barely discernible. This inscription and a scheme of decorative and figurative carvings were, however, still visible at the beginning of the 20th century, and were recorded in a drawing, reproduced in an OPW booklet available at the friary's visitor centre. The inscription was transcribed as follows:

Hic Iace
Tuordain
McCatrues
Ua Ux Marie
Fecit Hoc

This translates as 'Here lies Jordan MacCarthrues his wife Maria made this' (Anon. N.D.).
Under the inscription, a crucifixion scene was depicted in low relief, with two human figures, probably the Virgin and St John, flanking the cross. Below this was a carving of a griffin, a mythical hybrid creature with the head, beak, front quarters, legs and wings of an eagle, and the ears, hind legs and tail of a lion, one of less than fifty such representations known in Ireland (Higgins 2015, 53-54). Beneath the griffin, there were three rows of rosettes; the upper two rows each had four rosettes, and the third row, seven smaller rosettes.
The OPW booklet suggests a date of c. 1500 for the slab. However, an early 19th-century unpublished representation of the graveslab gives an alternative reading of the inscription, transcribed the last line as 'Fecit 1566' (pers. comm. Dr Robert Hensey).
The style of the inscription and decorative scheme is somewhat similar to that of another graveslab (SL014-065033-) in the chancel, which also bears a Latin inscription in Lombardic script in the upper section, above figurative scenes, including an animal.

Attached image:
SL014-065045-_01.JPG
SL014-065045-_01.JPG Early 20th-century representation of the slab (OPW booklet, Anon n.d.)

Compiled by: Anne-Julie Lafaye

Date of upload: 29 September 2020

References

Higgins, J. 2015 Gold greedy and grotesque on gallant and faithful: the symbolism of Griffins in Ireland. Sligo Field Club Journal 1, 53-63.

Anon. n.d. Mainister Shligigh, Sligo Abbey Historical and Descriptive Notes on the Dominican friary of Sligo. The Stationary Office, Dublin, N.D.