| Corpus Refs: | Macalister/1909:59 Macalister/1949:640 Petrie/1872:26 |
| Site: | CLMAC |
| Discovery: | first mentioned, 1822 Petrie, G. |
| History: | Petrie/1872, 22: `Drawn by Dr. Petrie at Clonmacnois, in the year 1822. It is no longer to be found'. Macalister/1909, 12: `Happily, however, the monument is safe and sound at Clonmacnois'. Macalister/1949, 47, records the stone as still on site. |
| Geology: | |
| Dimensions: | 0.61 x 0.69 x 0.04 (converted from Macalister/1949) |
| Setting: | inc |
| Location: | on site |
| Form: | cross-slab |
| Condition: | complete , good There appears to have been some minor damage at each of the corners of the stone. |
| Folklore: | none |
| Crosses: | 1: equal-armed; outline; straight; other; circular; angular; inner curv; none; decorated |
| Decorations: | Macalister/1909, 12: `Four-line cross inside three-line margin; circle round centre of cross. The spaces between the circle and the angles of the cross, and a lozenge on the cross, are voided, and contain pellets'.
|
| Petrie, G. (1822): | EPSCO/P | CATHAL Expansion: EPSCOP CATHAL Translation: Bishop Cathal (PN). Petrie/1872 22 reading only |
| Macalister, R.A.S. (1949): | EPSCO/P | DATHAL Expansion: EPSCOP DATHAL Macalister/1909 12 reading only Macalister/1949 47 reading only |
| Orientation: | horizontal |
| Position: | n/a ; broad ; above cross ; separated The inscription is outside the margins and above the cross. |
| Incision: | inc |
| Date: | 816 - 816 (Lionard/1961) |
| Language: | Goidelic (rbook) |
| Ling. Notes: | none |
| Palaeography: | CISP: The inscription is in half-uncial. The first P of line 1 and the D of line 2 each have open-bows; the E is three-pronged; the A's are in the `OC' form; the final L has a bifid terminal on the top of the ascender; the TH and COP are conjoined, with the O/P ligatured. |
| Legibility: | good The text is clear. |
| Lines: | 2 |
| Carving errors: | 0 |
| Doubtful: | no |
Macalister/1909, 12: `there is a Bishop Dathal recorded in the Annals of Ulster , A.D. 816'.
Macalister/1949, 47: `conceivably the `bishop, scribe and anchorite' of that name, place unrecorded, mentioned in AU, [obit] 816'.
Lionard/1961, 160, accepts this identification and dates the inscription accordingly.