THE JOURNAL

ОР

THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES

OF IRELAND

FOR THE YEAR 1904.

PAPERS AND PROCEEDINGS-PART IV., VOL. XXXIV.

Papers.

ON THE MCCRAGH TOMB IN LISMORE CATHEDRAL.

BY JOHN RIBTON GARSTIN, M.R.I.A., F.S.A., PRESIDENT.

[Read APRIL 19, 1904.]

THE HE Guide-books specially provided for last year's Munster Excursion of the Society afforded copious information about almost all the antiquities we visited; and when Dean Brougham received us at Lismore Cathedral, we were supplied by him and others with full accounts of everything there worthy of attention, with one exception. Our versatile and genial guide, Mr. Buckley, did, indeed, point out the McCragh tomb, and the remarkable sculpture upon it; and we hoped, and still hope, for a description of it from his pen, especially from an artistic point of view. Meanwhile I venture to offer some account of it, and of the family it belonged to.

So remarkable a monument could not have wholly escaped the notice of local historians. Accordingly, in Smith's "Waterford," published in 1746 (with the imprimatur of the Physico-Historical Society, perhaps our earliest precursor), a view of Lismore is given, including the Cathedral, of which it is stated that in it there were no monuments of antiquity, except the sides and cover of an ancient tomb of one Magrath, buried here in the year 1557."

Jour. R.S.A.I.

(Vol. XIV., Fifth Ser.

Vol. XXXIV., Consec. Ser.

[ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.]

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Austin Cooper, the Antiquary, examined this old tomb about thirtyfive years afterwards, and I have to thank Lord Walter Fitz Gerald for an extract from his MS. Journal of June, 1781, describing it. He gives the inscriptions nearly accurately, remarking that some parts of the principal one were defaced. He refers to a "worn-out inscription" on the cross; he notices the "heart stuck round with daggers," and "under it 'Gregori' and 'St. Gregory'" (but on the tomb this is not repeated). He enumerates eleven of the Apostles as represented on the two sides, but he omits St. Peter. He rightly gives both Judas and Matthias, but this Judas is not Iscariot, the Apostle into whose place Matthias was chosen by lot. He correctly names St. Karthag, St. Katherine, and St. Patricius, as well as our Saviour on the Cross, but places them on the sides instead of on the ends. It is evident that Austin Cooper saw all of the five slabs which form the tomb, but he does not say whether they were scattered or built up as at first.

Ryland, writing early in the following century, gives a little more information. He says (" Waterford," p. 337) this highly ornamented tomb "is now laid flat, but surrounded by the side stones,' "... "in the unfinished transept." He adds: "The date 1548 is legible, but the inscription which runs round the stone can be only very partially deciphered." He then gives only the names of the husband and wife recorded on it, adding the above date, which, however, is the second, and does not belong to them. He gives the surname of the man as McGrath, and falls into the extraordinary mistake of giving the wife's family name as Tborne, whereas it was Prendergast (!), and this was repeated in the Journal of the local Archæological Society in 1891, with the additional error of saying that St. Brigid appears upon the tomb: evidently a mistake for St. Carthagh, who is figured with his name carved above on the east end of the tomb. The name Thorne originated, I have no doubt, from a misreading of the Christian name of the woman's father, Thomas, which appears in the genitive ("filia" being understood) as tbome. Ryland notices "a character dressed in bishop's robes, offering up the host"; but neither the tiara nor the name inscribed suggested to him that the bishop was none other than Pope Gregory the Great.

Seventeen years later the tomb attracted the attention of a highlyskilled antiquary, Dr. John O'Donovan, who was engaged in the collection of memoranda for the Ordnance Survey of the County Waterford, now in the Collection of the Royal Irish Academy. In a letter, dated June 29th, 1841 (quoted in "Memorials of the Dead in Ireland," vol. v., 1903, p. 475), he gives his reading of the principal inscription, which almost agrees with that to be supplied later on in this paper. He also gives a drawing of two Irish inscriptions, signed "R. Armstrong, 1841"; so he probably saw the drawing to be presently noticed as being also by the same hand. Nevertheless, he failed, like Austin Cooper

and Ryland, to recognize St. Gregory and his mass, and says the figure "is evidently intended to represent St. Carthagh offering up the host."

I have had the advantage of seeing a recent reading, with translation, of the five inscriptions, and a brief description by Mr. Spencer Harty.

In Farrow's "Minor Cathedrals of Ireland," an account of the Cathedral and its vicissitudes will be found, with illustrations; and Harris's "Ware" has an engraving. Dean Brougham contributed historical notices of it to the "Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette." But I can only glance at these and pass on to describe the tomb.

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The tomb is of the shape known as an altar," or "box" tomb, consisting of two sides, and two ends which support a covering slab or "" mensa.' It is in the north side of the nave, near the western wall, where are the ancient stones bearing inscriptions in Irish which have been fully described in the Journal and elsewhere.

It would probably be difficult to obtain satisfactory photographs of it (though steps have been taken to procure such), and rubbings, such as Dean Brougham kindly sent me, could not show the figures or ornamentation properly.

The accompanying illustrations have, therefore, been reproduced from a photograph reduced from a very elaborate drawing, now in Lismore Castle, kindly lent by His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, K.G., formerly President of the Society. (See pp. 302, 303, 310, and 311.)

A magnifying glass brings to light in the two bottom corners of the drawing the words: "Length, 80; breadth, 38; height, 8.0" (being the dimensions of the monument), and "scale one foot to an inch "; and under the large lettering at foot the words: "Drawn from the original, and the dilapidations restored, by R. Armstrong, Clerk of the Cathedral, November, 1846."

This drawing, though skilfully executed and giving a good general idea of the tomb, cannot be implicitly relied on, at least as regards the details of the inscriptions, such as abbreviations, &c.

The two sides of the tomb (shown in figs. 1 and 2, pp. 302 and 303) have a series of carved figures representing the Twelve ApostlesMatthias being substituted, as usual, for Judas Iscariot. They bear a series of characteristic emblems by no means identical with those usually assigned, and over the head of each is carved his name (in Latin), so that there is not the usual difficulty of identification.

The figures of the Apostles represent their heads as uncovered, with flowing hair and large moustaches. They are in long robes with large sleeves. Each carries one or two distinctive emblems, such as are usually attributed to him in medieval art. St. Peter holds the keys, St. Andrew his saltire, or transverse cross, St. John a chalice. Each of the other nine holds in his right hand some weapon or emblem, and in his left a square object with a handle from its lower side. This, I suppose,

is intended for a book, and it resembles the framed and handled hornbooks in use in the sixteenth century.

The order in which the Twelve Apostles are ranged deserves attention. The three lists of this "glorious company" given in the New Testament, while agreeing in placing St. Peter first, and Judas Iscariot last, and in being composed of three groups of the same four Apostles, differ in several particulars. The chief representations of the series in European art follow no one of the Scripture lists. In Rome, the great church of St. John Lateran has twelve statues of heroic size ranged along its naveSt. Paul being placed second, and both Judas and Matthias omitted-and, similarly, in Copenhagen, Thorwaldsen's grand series of statues of the Apostles represents Protestant art. Nearer home, several smaller sets of statues may be found; but in Ireland few remain from mediæval times. One set at Cashel has lately been described by Lord Walter Fitz Gerald, who has identified the Apostles and their emblems. In early Irish art the so-called Ardagh Chalice shows the names with a notable variation, namely, inserting St. Paul next after St. Peter, vice Judas displaced, or rather omitted. In Kilcooley Abbey, County Tipperary, there is a series of thirteen niches, now unfilled: that at the end being smaller than the others. Perhaps St. Paul was added, but possibly Judas was retained in a minor place. The general arrangement followed the early liturgies, and this seems to be the rule which determined the order in which the figures on the two sides of this Lismore monument are placed, commencing with Peter and Andrew, back to back; the names being carved over their heads.

Above these figures of the twelve Apostles, between them and the top slab, on a cornice, are some curious grotesque bosses showing the pelican(?), the xous, with sundry griffins and deaths-heads, &c.

Of the two ends (shown on p. 310), one is especially noteworthy as supplying local colour, without which the tomb might be supposed to be of English workmanship. The western represents the Crucifixion, with unnamed figures of St. John and the Blessed Virgin standing on each side of the cross, above which are the sun, moon (darkened), and two stars. The eastern end shows three figures in niches under a triple canopy. The central is occupied by St. Katherine, who, even if not labelled, might be recognised by her wheel, and should not be mistaken for St. Bridget. The prominence assigned to her is probably to be accounted for by the Christian name of the lady of the tomb, as was not unusual. The figures on each side of her, both duly named, are St. Carthagh, the founder of the see, as to whose history and wanderings much has been written, and St. Patrick. Both are habited as bishops, and provided with-what they never had-very tall mitres; St. Patrick's having a prominent cross on it. Both have moustaches and short beards, and both are in the attitude of blessing. St. Patrick holds in his left hand a tall, triple cross, and St. Carthagh a crozier, with a floreated crook, curved into what may be a