crosses historical ireland

Castle: This is a 15th or 16th century tower-house of 3 storeys, and with good trefoil headed windows. Its most unusual feature is the excellent corbelled roof (in the same technique as the Newgrange chamber roof, 4,000 years older!) which is on the third storey. The famous antiquarian Ussher lived nearby for some time. It was repaired by Captain Brabazon in 1641. A bawn with rounded turret which belonged to the castle has disappeared. High Cross: In the graveyard of St. Fechin's Church...

A long rectangular 12th century church. The west doorway is flat-headed but has Romanesque moulding on the outside and a round arch inside, and also holes which held the bars to lock the door. Two round-headed windows in the east wall have hood-mouldings on the outside supported by pillars. There are also some old gravestones, a water font and an unfinished granite cross. Little is known about the history of the place other than that the monastery was possibly founded in the early 6th centur...

In the garden of Castle Bernard, nearly a mile east of Kinnitty, is a High Cross with a David scene and the Crucifixion on the east face, and Adam and Eve, intertwined birds, interlacing and other geometric motifs on the west face. Important inscriptions at the bottom of both faces of the shaft indicate that the cross was erected by Colman for Maelsechnaill, High King of Ireland from 846 to 862. The south wall of the courtyard behind the castle formed part of a 15th century church, of which so...

Four Km from Athlone on the Mountemple road, you can see the Twyford Cross, of 10th century origin; it was discovered in a local log in the last century and is now erected on top of a prominent hill. Nearby, on the remains of Moydrum Estate, is an almost perfect early 19th century ice-house, the forerunner of our present day domestic refrigerator....

The monastery was founded by an obscure saint named Buite who died in 521. We know that the monastery remained in existence up till 1122, and the Vikings appear to have occupied it for a time until they were attacked by Domhnall, King of Tara, in 9687. One of its most learned monks, Flann, died in 1056. the importance of Monasterboice lies in the fact that it contains two of the finest High Crosses in Ireland, both probably dating to the 9the century. One of these, the Cross of Muiredach, ge...

The main item of interest is a stone cross having the features of a Celtic cross inscribed on one face of its imperforate ring, while the other face bears a boss. The cross may never have been finished. Built into the interior north wall of the dilapidated medieval church close by is the replica of a medieval effigy of an apparently male figure whose head, made of a different material and now lost, was sunk into its surface; it may have represented the local saint rather than having been a tom...

The shafts and head of one or two crosses, possibly of 11th century date. The decoration is well executed, and presents a fine study in loosely knit geometrical interlacing patterns....

Six metre tall cross dating from the 10th century. One of Ulster's finest early Christian monuments....

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...

The only surviving remnant of an early monastery here is the 9th/10th century High Cross situated on a dominant hillock overlooking the lake. It would appear to be the only High Cross in Northern Ireland where the shaft and head of the cross are likely to have belonged together originally. Old Testament scenes decorate the east face (Adam and Eve, Sacrifice of Isaac, Daniel in the Lions' Den and Three Hebrews in the Fiery Furnace) and south side (Cain slaying Abel, David [or Sampson?] and the...