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...

At Clones, the Presbyterian church (1854) is on left. The Church of Ireland church (1822) dominates the Diamond, the centrepiece of which is an excellent example of an early High Cross (9th or 10th century). Old Testament scenes are depicted on one side of the cross, while the reverse side illustrates New Testament stories....

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....

Durrow High Cross Durrow High Cross belonged to a monastery founded by St. Columba in 553, made possible by the generosity of Aedh, son of the local Prince Brendan. The monastery was plundered and burned a number of times. There is no trace left of the Monastery, but in the churchyard is a holy well and a High Cross - a 9th century relic which shows on one face: the rising of Christ, the sacrifice of Isaac and Christ with David and his harp and Christ with David killing a lion on the right. Th...

A granite cross set in a square base. The cross is tall and thin, and the arms are proportionately wide in relation to the small unpierced ring. Tradition says that it had another pair of arms! Although called St. Mark's Cross, it was known as St. Baoithin's Cross in the 19th century. It originally stood some distance away at Burgage, but was moved to its present site when it was in danger of being submerged while the Liffey valley nearby was being flooded for a hydroelectric scheme around 194...

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...

A small granite cross, allegedly brought here from elsewhere. It has an unpierced ring at the top, with a representation of the Crucifixion on one side and two worn human heads on the other. Its date is uncertain, but it is probably 15th/16th century....

Standing in the pretty village of Tynan is a High Cross which, like so many of its kind in Ulster, consists of two fragments, originally separate, mounted on top of one another. The head-fragment, with a prominent boss at its centre, was cleverly restored in the 19th century. The lower fragment bears a panel of Adam and Eve on one face and what is possibly a representation of David among the Israelites on the other....

The church on the site of a monastery founded by St. Buodan was built probably in the 17th century but the lintel over the door, with worn carved figures on it, was taken from an earlier church.

In the north-east angle of the church is a grave-slab erected by Magnus MacOrristin (possibly a Scotsman) with a sword and a hurley stick on it.

In the adjoining field to the west is a very pleasing High Cross. On its east face in the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes, and on the we...

three High Crosses, possibly of 9th century date, on the site of an Early Christian monastery, about which nothing is known. the west cross is the most important. On the eastern side of the base there are 8 horseman, while the other sides show interlacing (sometimes irregular) and geometric motifs. The lower part of the shaft of the cross is divided into panels bearing designs including interlaced goose-like animals. The rest of the cross is largely covered with interlacing interspersed with...