RAHAN MONASTIC SITE - Offaly County Council

Early Christian Cross-Slabs (SMR No. OF016-015003; OF016-015013)3.0 PHYSICAL EVIDENCEAn Early Christian cross-slab, which was recorded within the graveyard in the early part of this century, couldnot be located. It was described as the lower portion of a slab incised with a two line Latin cross surrounded by asingle line ring below which the shaft extended. Traces of a four-line inscription were visible running across theslab. 42 There is a second, Early Christian sandstone slab inserted into the inner face of the chancel over the rebuiltdoorway to the mural stairs.Loose Sculpture — Romanesque Scalloped Capital (SMR No. OF016-015015)Inside the Church of St Carthage, there is a beautifully carved multi-scalloped capital with foliage pattern, someof which has voluted leaves carved on the cones. This capital may have belonged to the outer order of the originalRomanesque doorway.Seventeenth Century Graveslabs (SMR No. OF016-015011; OF016-015012)Two seventeenth century graveslabs survive at Rahan. During the 1912 restoration works to the Church of StCarthage, a rectangular slab, decorated with a small Maltese cross above a skull and cross bones, was discoveredunder the floor of the church. It was subsequently built into the north wall of the nave at the back of the pulpit.The slab is inscribed with the date 1683 and the initials ‘C.M’. It was apparently common practice among the localgentry to commission their memorials before their death, and it was suggested that this slab might commemorateCharles Molloy of Cartron, who died in 1684 and had the slab made during his lifetime. 43Walter Fitzgerald recorded two portions of what he described as a plain shaft of a limestone cross located to theright of the west doorway. Faint traces of an inscription revealed that this cross was carved in 1616 by CormacO Boghalie. 44 Two pieces of the upper end of another slab decorated with a floriated cross carved in relief andinscribed with the initials ‘O.B’ and ‘C.B’ were also noted by Fitzgerald and have recently been rediscovered inthe graveyard. 45Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century MemorialsThe graveyard at Rahan contains some of the finest eighteenth and nineteenth century memorials in County Offaly.These depict important folk art and religious symbolism distinctive to the region. The quality of the stone carvingon the memorials is a testimony to the skill of the local stone carvers. Two important memorials, dating from theeighteenth century, depict the tools of a blacksmith and a carpenter. This type of symbolism is rare: not only inCounty Offaly, but throughout the midland region.Standing Stone and / or Pillar Stone (SMR No. OF016-015008)Sometime between 1870 and 1871 a local antiquarian called Thomas Stanley visited the site and recorded that:A stone stands between the two banks which encircled old Rathan, and beside its Southern entrance, I take it to bemonumental. It is a slab and is arranged upon the meridian. 46 This possible standing stone may have been thepillar stone referred to in the Martyrology of Oengus, wherein the story recounts that on the eve of Constantine’sdeath when he was making his last confession he is reputed to have stated - that on my conscience there is nothingof the world, save only that I think I should like the flagstone on which thou repeatest thy paternoster to be over myface (when I am buried). It shall be so indeed, says Mochutu. And get thee, O Satan, into the pillar-stone to thesouth of the cell, and thou shouldst cause no hurt there save no one who shall resist the Church. 47 Today there areno traces of this possible prehistoric standing stone or Early Christian pillar stone, which may have marked theentrance to the monastery or marked an important meeting or boundary point within the monastery.Graveyard and Graveyard Wall (SMR No. 016-015002)During the nineteenth century, the old medieval graveyard at Rahan was enclosed by a new boundary wallinto which fragments of salvaged masonry from the Romanesque church were incorporated. A fragment of aRomanesque hood moulding (SMR No. OF016-015016) (with foliate decoration similar to that from the hoodmoulding over the doorway and the outer moulding enclosing the circular window) can be seen at low level inthe outer face of the south wall. On the west side of the graveyard, the boundary wall incorporates part of anearlier medieval building located to the south of the main entrance into the graveyard. The stone stile built intothe boundary wall was also constructed using salvaged medieval worked stone, possibly from the church.49