Tomb - chest tomb

The National Monuments Service's description

In grassland on an E-facing slope overlooking small stream to E with rising grassland to W, in upland region. A carved stone pieta from a 16th-century chest tomb (Hunt 1974, vol. 1, 227; vol.2, plate 320) lies on the ground to the W of the gable of a structure covering a holy well (TS54-038001-). The well is located in an area overgrown with bushes and trees which has been fenced off from the surrounding land. The sculpture is described by Hunt (1974, vol. 1, 227) as 'The Virgin is seated and she wears a flounced robe, the three flounces with the edge of each flounce forming a repetitive wavy pattern...Her head seems to be bare and her hair falls in waves upon her shoulders. The figure of Christ on her lap is mostly missing, the head and legs being broken away. On the sinister side one of the spandrels of the canopied niche under which Our Lady is seated has some leafage of gothic type carved in it. The date must be early sixteenth century'.

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of revised upload: 30 January 2012

References

Hunt, J. 1974 Irish medieval figure sculpture 1200-1600, 2 vols. Dublin. Irish University Press.