moone high crosses and church

This High Cross, with its beautiful flat stylised and naïve figures, is 17 feet high, unique and one of the most appealing of all the High Crosses. On the east face are Daniel and seven lions, the Sacrifice of Isaac, Adam and Eve, the Crucifixion; the south face has The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes, The Flight into Egypt, The Three Children in the Fiery Furnace and various animal, while the north face has SS Paul and Anthony breaking bread in the desert.

The cross stands on the site of an Early Christian monastery allegedly founded by St. Columba. An abbot of the monastery is know to have died in 1014, and in 1040 it was raided by Diarmuid of the Ui Ceinnsealaigh who carried away many prisoners from it. In the 13th century the Fitzgeralds founded a new church which has antae, and unless these belong to an earlier church, they represent one of the latest survivals of this feature in Irish architecture. The church was repaired in 1609. Inside it are the remains of another cross built into cement and decorated with animals and centaurs.