Cross-slab

The National Monuments Service's description

Known locally as the 'Headache Stone' this early Christian cross-slab is now incorporated into the SE side of a hedgerow forming a field boundary running NE-SW. Rahugh church (WM038-041----) and graveyard (WM038-041001-) 145m to NE. St. Hugh's holy well 300m to ESE. This cross-slab is sometimes referred to as the birthstone of St. Hugh. A story in the 12th century Life of St. Hugh recorded that ‘at his birth, the baby’s head struck upon the stone whereon his mother had been sitting, and formed a hollow depression, the exact size of his head, and further informs us that the water which collects in this little hole still avails for the cure of all kinds of diseases’ (Stokes 1896, 328). Present remains consist of a large roughly rectangular-shaped limestone slab (dims. 1.33m x H 0.95m; T 0.36m) with ringed cross carved in low relief inside a panel the faint outline of which can be seen on one side only. A large depression can be seen in the centre of the cross with a second circular hollow located to the right which has been carved into the arm of the cross. According to the local tradition this was the stone on which St. Hugh was born. Described in 1896 as ‘an immense block of stone, lying in a ditch in the same field as the holy well. It is called by the peasantry, St. High’s tombstone. It has a large Celtic circle and cross incised upon its face. The arms of the cross extend beyond the circle. But the most curious thing about it is this; in the very centre of the circle there is a hole, the side of the crown of a human head, with a smaller hole beside it on the right, into which the elbow is to be inserted. The local tradition is just as Colgan reports, that if the head of a person, afflicted with headache, be placed in the larger hole, the body supported meanwhile by the right arm, the disease will be cured by St. Hugh’s power’ (Stokes 1896, 332).

See attached drawing of cross-slab taken from Stokes 1896, 331.

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 1 September 2014

References

Stokes, Rev. G.T. 1896 St. Hugh of Rahue: his church, his life, and his times. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 6, 325-335.