Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Inscribed slab
Lugduff (ballinacor North By.), County Wicklow, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Lugduff (ballinacor North By.)
- County
- Wicklow
- Country
- Ireland
- SMR number
- WI023-028034-
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
According to Macalister (1949, 81) this slab was `formerly at the Reefert Church (WI023-028001-)on the shore of the Upper Lake...it was smashed to fragments and sold piecemeal by guides to souvenir-hunters'. The stone was drawn by Petrie between 1820-1830 and by 1878 had dissappeared (Macalister 1949, 81). It was an oblong, rectangular slab, of the 11th century and was decorated with `a Latin three-line cross with a circular and semi-circular expansion at the centre and the terminals respectively. They bore no ornamental device' (Macalister 1949, 81). In 1830 Petrie recorded the inscription as 'O~R~DO || CORPREMACCATH | NNT~ [..]C~I~D || AIL' which can be expanded into 'OROIT DO CORPRE MAC CATHAIL NNT~ [..] C~I~D' which translates as 'Pray for Corpre (PN), son of Cathal (PN)'. Macalister (Macalister 1949, 81) states that 'the inscription ran down the dexter side of the stem of the cross'. According to Petrie (1878, 59) `this is one of the few inscriptions where the name of the father of the person interred is also mentioned, and it is a matter of great interest that these names can be identified'. Macalister wrote (1949, 81) that 'there is nothing to oppose the identification of this person with `Coirpre the Generous, son of Cathal', anchorite of Glendaloch (d. 1013)'. Unfortunately an `absurd misreading of the inscription, published in 1804, popularised the notion that this was the gravestone of the `King O'Toole', who figures in local tourist gossip. In consequence, it was smashed to fragments and sold piecemeal by guides to souvenir-hunters' (Macalister 1949, 81).
Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien
Date of upload: 19 December 2012
See linked document with drawing taken from Robert Cochrane Historical and Descriptive Notes with Ground Plans, Elevations, Sections and Details of the Ecclesiastical Remains at Glendalough, Co. Wicklow. Extract from the Eightieth Annual Report of the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland 1911-12. Dublin, 1925.
References
Petrie, G. 1878 Christian inscriptions in the Irish language. Chiefly collected and drawn by George Petrie, LL. D.; and edited by Margaret Stokes, 2 vols. Dublin.
Macalister, R.A.S. 1949 Corpus Inscriptionum Insularum Celticarum, 2 vols. Dublin. Irish Manuscripts Commission.