crosses historical ireland

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...

There may have been an early Christian monastery in the valley where, according to tradition, St. Colmcille banished demons who enveloped the valley in a fog. The most conspicuous remains are the pillars decorated with cross-motifs and geometric designs which are now the  'stations of the cross' of the pilgrimage which takes place on the Saint's feastday on June 9th. The pillars are spread over an area in the valley 3.5 miles long and the pilgrimage takes as many hours to complete.
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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...

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 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...

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...

St. Goban Find is reputed to have been the founder of the original monastery here. Not far from the modern ruined church stands the fine High Cross which has been dated to the 9th century. Both cross and base are richly ornamented with a variety of geometric motifs. The west face of the cross has a stag-hunting scene, a chariot-procession and panels possibly representing the Lord Sanctifying the Seventh Day, and Adam and Eve after expulsion from Paradise. The east face is largely decorated wi...

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...

In the cemetery is a late medieval church. the round-headed south window may have come from an earlier church on the same site. The trunk of a cross with a coat of arms and an inscription, put up in 1622 in memory of Florence Fitzpatrick and his wife, has been re-erected near the National School nearby....

From the old monastery there remain a small undecorated T-shaped cross which is 7 feet high, a Round Tower - 57 feet high, built of rounded beach stones and with a round-headed doorway, as well as scanty remains of two churches....