Kells Abbey #2 - a few interesting stones

After giving a general view of the graveyard at Kells Abbey and spotting the graves of the former Rectors of County Meath, let us move on to the older part behind the church. But first, have a look at John Dowling's grave. He died in 1876, and his stone is adorned with this beautifully carved standing Agnus Dei. The very first time I had ever noticed one of those was in Robertstown that very same day. I thought it was very original and rare, and was all the happier to see one again. I have since seen a few more, though. I also realised there was one in my pictures of Galtrim graveyard (but I hadn't noticed it then because there were so many more striking images). The Agnus Dei would usually be represented lying down rather than standing, but it is not such a rare occurrence either. I still thought this specific standing Agnus Dei was worth a mention, because it is so precisely carved and realistic, you can almost feel the wool.

A nearby Celtic cross displays all the classic designs, but the intertwined "dragons" are unusually detailed, almost "realistic".

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Different as they look at first sight, these three stones from roughly the same period (late18th / early 19th century) caught my eye for their original representations of a common feature - the winged head. They were respectively erected by Elnor Clinton "in greatful (sic.) memory" of her husband Thomas, who died in 1773, by Owen O'Brien for his wife Margaret who died in 1779, and by Thomas Farrell for his wife Margaret who died in 1807 (Thomas and Margaret seem to have been very common names in that era). Below are close-ups of these three representations.

Margaret Farrell's winged heads seem lost among a luxurious representation of the crucifixion and they are rather common, except for their hair which sort of looks like a lawyer's wig. But as a former art history student I was particularly struck by the inclusion of winged heads within circles in the other two representations. The head on Thomas Clinton's grave looks like a full moon, and its wings are clearly spread in such a way that they complete the half circle of the sun surrounding the IHS pictogram. This is probably my favourite IHS so far, and also one of the very few graves I've seen with a single winged head rather than two. As for Margaret Farrell's grave, it shows a different kind of full circles: to start with, the sun surrounding the IHS is in relief, which makes it a lot more obvious than in many instances, and the wings of the winged heads form perfect fan-like half-circles which repeat the motif of the sun.

The text on this stone is almost illegible and I could not identify a name or a date, so I did not include it with the other three, but I wanted to share this last picture of a very original winged head. A single one, again, larger than usual, and extremely simple. The perfectly round face might be a way to include the usual sun motif within the winged head itself.

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The stone erected by Owen O'Brien for his wife Margaret mentioned above also boasts an interesting crucifixion scene. It is a sort of mix between seemingly naive, extremely rigid figures with non-realistic faces, but also with such details as the knot in the cloth covering Christ's groin or the halo over Mary's head. The identity of the figures on either side of the cross is made clear with the mention of their initials. The V and the M over the head of the left-side character identifies her as the Virgin Mary, while the St J over the second figure identifies him as St John the Evangelist. Another interesting stone is topped by a figure which looks very much like a Bishop. It might be the grave of some important religious figure, but as you can see it is extremely weathered, so it was perfectly impossible to decipher any information on the stone.

Finally, its decoration has little to do with the religious representations it is shown with here, but I was very interested in this original use of Irish shamrocks included within foliage. It reminds me of typical motifs of Celtic artwork, with the mirroring symmetry, the esses, the palmettes, but most of all the intertwined, ambiguous character of all these motifs, most of which can be interpreted in different ways depending on the angle from which one looks at them.

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One last grave provides an interesting contrast to the lavish ornamentation described so far. It is only decorated with a very basic cross, and the person buried there is simply "Bob", without a surname, or indeed a full first name. Bob sadly died on Christmas Day, 25th December 1750. The strange bars on top of the date might be the number 11, maybe Bob's age when he died?

EDIT: Two interesting suggestions were made after I first published this, so I'm adding them here.

1- That BOB might be initials and not a name. It makes perfect sense, especially as the O is smaller than the Bs. So now I'm calling this the Brian O'Brien stone. Because

2- That the bars over 25 are probably the -th for 25th. I zoomed in, and this is definitely right. Thank you!

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And of course, there was no way I could write of my visit at Kells Abbey without mentioning the famous medieval crosses. I am far from an expert on the matter (especially when it comes to identifying biblical references), so I won't be spending too long on them. But I wanted to share this picture of a detail from the first cross I saw, at the back of the church. If you are reading my posts regularly, you have probably noticed by now that I have a soft spot for these abstract motifs that are simultaneously extremely simple and repetitive, and yet so impressive and sophisticated with the multiplicity of interpretations they offer. Also, if you scroll back up to that stone with the shamrock foliage, you'll definitely see what I meant about its Celtic inspirations (although the technique is more impressive here).

I only have very few pictures of the other two crosses I saw (apparently there are 5 of them, but I only spotted 3), and there are so many of them out there I don't think mine are an invaluable addition, especially as some of them are blurred with the rain that had started to lash down on us by then. But it's always a special feeling, especially after studying Irish medieval Art for an MA, to see these for real and have my own pictures of them, with the possibility to focus on the details that I am most interested in. One is right by the high tower, close to the back angle of the church. I thought it was interesting that its central image represented not a crucifixion but a bishop (probably that of Kells at the time). The animal representations on its side are fascinating, too. The last cross is indeed decorated with a central crucifixion, and very little else. By then, the rain was becoming a real problem, so I did not linger much, but long enough to capture my most cliché snapshot yet, with a Celtic cross AND a round tower in the same image (also, in French cliché literally means snapshot, so I am loving this sentence).