crosses historical ireland

The various surviving parts of a 9th or 10th century granite High Cross from the monastery founded by St. Colman in the 6th or 7th century were re-erected by the Dromore Historical Society in the Cathedral grounds beside the bridge over the River Lagan in 1887. The base has an unusual 'cushioned' form, and into it fits a part of the shaft which bears sunken panels with fretwork designs (some badly worn) framed by interlace panels. The upper part of the shaft is modern, and it bears the head of...

Three 16th and early 17th century wayside crosses erected in a grove just outside the village of Killucan. The first has an inscription 'This stone was for Tir: McKin : and Alson Plunkett his wife in the year 1531'. Those commemorated, Tirlogh McKenny and his wife, died in a coaching accident (it happened even then!). The cross originally stood beside the Dublin - Athlone road. The second cross says 'Arthur Darcy et K. Fitzgerald me feri na Dni 1604. The rest of the Latin inscription is from...

the church is alleged to have been founded by St. Patrick, but it is more likely that it was his disciple Lughaidh (died 515-16) who founded the monastery. St. Ronan, who cursed Suibhne Geilt and caused him to go mad, was abbot here and died of the great plague in 664. The High King, Aedh Finnlaigh, died here in 876. The monastery was plundered by the Irish in 908, by the Danes in 978 and again by the Irish in 1043. The Round Tower and a High Cross still survive from the old monastery. The...

A number of wells rise up at this eerie spot where one could imagine that people in times past could have wondered at the primeval power of nature. St. Patrick is said to have visited the place, and the water is said to cure 'sore lips, sore eyes, the scrofula and several other chronic diseases'.

In the middle of a pond is an early cross, and beside it is a church which was built on the site of a 12th century edifice, but which in its present mutilated form dates probably from the 16...

A 16th century wayside cross with the inscription ORATE-P--AIA JOHANIS BROIN (Pray for the Soul of John Broin). On the east face is a representation of the Pieta while on the west face there is a Crucifixion and Gothic decoration; the north face bears geometric designs and a head, and there is another head at the end of the south arm. The cross was presumably re-erected in 1727, as the following inscription which was added later suggests 'Sr Andrew Aylmer of Mountaylemer Bart and his Lady Cathe...

The monastery at Kells would appear to have been first founded in 804 by monks from St. Colmcille's foundation at Iona who were fleeing from the Viking invasions and seeking a safer place for their treasures. In 877 reliquaries of the saint were transferred to Kells. The monastery was raided by the Vikings in 919, 950 and 969.

The greatest treasure of the monastery - the Book of Kells, now in Trinity College, Dublin - which had possibly been written here in the early 9th century, wa...

St. Alban founded the first monastery here around 650, but the site is named after his successor, St. Beccan. A 12th century Romanesque church has a flat-headed doorway, and two unusual decorated windows.

A number of crosses and Early Christian cross-slabs are either standing free around the church or have been built into its interior or exterior walls....

The heads of two High Crosses have been mounted on modern shafts in a hill-top graveyard. Neither bears figure sculpture, but one bears a decorated boss at the centre of one face and encircled bossed ornament on the other....

Resting in a rectangular base, this is a squat granite cross with its ring unpierced. There is a large protruding boss at the intersection of the arms. The cross was divided into panels which possibly bore interlacing. It is the last remaining of three crosses which stood on the site....

The High Cross in the field is one of the most satisfying of the earliest carved Irish Crosses, the interpretation of the symbols still exciting scholars. The worn stone carvings include St. Anthony and St. Paul in the desert; the Temptation of St. Anthony; Jacob and the Angel; a figure flanked by two horsemen and a hunting scene. Strong traditions holds this to be the burial place of Niall Caille MacAeda, High King of Ireland, who died in 846 A.D. The early church was reconstructed in the Mid...