Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Cross-slab
Portlick / Whinning, County Westmeath, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Portlick / Whinning
- County
- Westmeath
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Latest-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Coordinates
- 53.49332, -7.91256
- SMR number
- WM022-003----
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 5 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1790 "Composite: Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
The precise location of this cross-slab discovered in 1976 by Billy English (Fanning and Ó hÉailidhe 1980, 12) has not been identified, the slab was reportedly removed from the orchard wall before 1980 (ibid., 19). The location of this cross-slab was recorded as incorporated into the fabric of the S wall of a garden located 195m S of Portlick Castle (WM022-045----). This garden wall marks the boundary between the townlands of Whinning and Portlick. The slab was described in the SMR file as ‘now missing’ and as a ‘small sandstone slab inserted into the outer wall of the garden attached to Portlick Castle (WM022-045----). The slab contains a small Greek cross with expanded bifurcated terminals which touch the double banded circle enclosing the cross. The slab measures 5cm in length by 28cms in width and the encircled cross has a diam.[eter] of 16.5cm. The grooves on the cross is very shallow and slightly deep in the circle. It could be a consecration or dedication cross’ (ibid. 19). This cross-slab may be associated with possible early Christian church site (WM022-014001-/002-) located 200m to SSE (Reilly 2016, 113).
Compiled by: Caimin O’Brien
Date of upload: 29 July 2017
References
Fanning, T. and Ó hÉailidhe, P. 1980 Some cross-inscribed slabs from the Irish Midlands. In H. Murtagh (ed.), Irish Midland studies: essays in commemoration of N.W. English, 5-23. Athlone. Old Athlone Society.
Reilly, D. 2016 Miscellany: A newly discovered early Christian cross-slab from Portlick, Co. Westmeath. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 144, 113-21.
Nearby in the register
- Castle - tower houseunder 1 mi
- Graveyardunder 1 mi
- Ecclesiastical enclosureunder 1 mi
- Churchunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.