Cross-slab

The National Monuments Service's description

Listed as Slab A by the OPW in 1912 and described by Robert Cochrane of the OPW as follows; ‘(A) This small slab is quite perfect, and bears a ringed cross with small spiral curves at the extremities. The inscription occupies three of the four quarters, and reads MAELMARTAIN. It is a very interesting and typical specimen of the earliest form of ornamented cross slab. (Size of slab, 21” [0.53m] x 14” [0.35m])' (Anon. 1913, 44). Catalogued by Crawford in 1913 as slab (b) and described as a ‘A slab 1 ft. 9 in. [0.5m] by 1 ft. 2 in. [0.35m], bearing a ringed cross of two incised lines. The base is pointed, and there are small spirals at all the extremities. The inscription MAEL MARTAIN reads down the sinister and turns up the dexter side’ (Crawford 1913, 329). Listed by Macalister in 1949 as slab no. 874 (Macalister 1949, 79). Cross-reference with GA084-151031- as the slab has now been moved to the OPW Depot in Athenry, Co. Galway.

See attached 1912 OPW drawing of cross-slab A (Anon. 1913, 47).

Compiled and revised by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of revised upload: 23 April 2021

References

Anon. 1913 Eighty-First Annual Report of the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland with appendices for the year ending 31st March 1913. London. HMSO.

Macalister, R.A.S. 1949 Corpus Inscriptionum Insularum Celticarum, 2 vols. Dublin. Irish Manuscripts Commission.

Crawford, H.S. 1913 A descriptive list of early cross-slabs and pillars. (cont.) Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 43, 151-69, 261-5, 326-34.