Kilmacduagh Cross Slab

 

Cross inscribed slab with decorated terminals and centre device.

Christy Cunnife

 

Duplex knot

Christy Cunniffe

 

Left and right terminal with interlace

Christy Cunniffe

 

Fretwork on upper and lower terminal

Christy Cunniffe

This highly ornate Early Christian slab is fixed into the north wall of St Mary’s medieval Church at Kilmacduagh, Co. Galway. It bears an equal armed cross with rectangular terminals and a square central decorated with a combination of intricate interlace, knotwork and fret pattern. It is contained within a two-lined frame. It is the only early cross slab recorded here, though given the prominence of the site as an important Early Christian monastery there is likely to be more not yet discovered. Material such as this often gets reused in the masonry of later churches.

This slab is published in Higgins, J. G. 1987 The Early Christian Cross Slabs, Pillars Stones and Related Monuments of County Galway. 2. Vols. BAR International Series 375.