IRISH CROSS-PILLARS

AND CROSS-SLABS

part three

text and photographs by
Anthony Weir

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On the island of Inishmurray, off the coast of Sligo, many cross-slabs and pillars survive, as well as ruined churches and monks' cells (known as clocháns ). Some slabs and pillars have been set up on leachta , others stand or lie about.

 

It is not surprising in such a well-preserved island environment as Inishmurray to find smooth oval, magic, holy or cure stones (discussed in part two) - here decorated by engraving - placed on top of a leacht.. . ..

...not far from a large corbelled stone hut
whose entrance is now very low because of infill.

The same combination of rectilinear with curvilinear design occurs on grave-slabs.

One such, carved on both sides is one of a few known to have crossed and re-crossed the Atlantic as talismans to help the afflicted descendants of emigrants from the area.

 

Bruckless, county Donegal: two sides of the same slab.

 

Slabs and pillars seem to merge on certain sites - which, like most of those illustrated here, are either on islands or near to the sea.

On the island of Inishkea North, large cross-slabs (unlikely to be funerary) become crucifixion-slabs.

Inishkea North, county Mayo:
crucifixion slab and ornamented quernstone:
note the wounds of Jesus indicated by cup-marks

On other coastal sites the development is less deft.

Tullaghora, county Antrim

Skellig Michael, county Kerry

Another development was the "face-cross", on much smaller slabs or very small pillars.

Knappaghmanagh, county Mayo:
(note the cup-marks or solution pits)

A little pillar in a still-used ancient graveyard might be a "face-cross" - or it might be the gravestone of a 19th century child: ancient and modern are sometimes indistinguishable.

Kilbroney, county Down.

It is in the north-west county of Donegal that pillars, slabs and crucifixions merge together, and associate with motifs drawn both from pre-Christian Ireland and Merovingian France.

Inishkeel, county Donegal

Drumhallagh, county Donegal:
note the quartzite pebbles at the base of this slab

Knots and circular motifs of various kinds become a common feature on the sculptured crosses of the following centuries - along with enigmatic human figures , as well as Biblical scenes such as The Fall, Cain and Abel, King David playing his harp, Daniel in the Lions' Den, the Baptism of Jesus, and the Last Supper.

Cross-pillar, Carndonagh, county Donegal

Cross and "guard-pillars", Carndonagh, county Donegal;
the pillars may have been boundary-markers for the monastery

"Guard-pillar" of the cross at Carndonagh, county Donegal:
a monk at the left, and a mythological figure (reminiscent of the
Norse trickster/devil-god Loki) on the right.
The latter is not so different from our motif-statue of the smith-god Nuadú of the horned helmet - also from a Christian site - which may be five hundred or more years older.

 

photos and text anti-copyright by Anthony Weir
whose EARLY IRELAND: A FIELD GUIDE
was published in 1980, quickly sold out,
and was never reprinted.

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Manticora on the side of a cross-pillar (or cross-shaft)
at Tibberaghny, county Kilkenny: one of a large repertoire
of enigmatic beasts and scenes on Irish crosses.

Click on the picture to see another enigmatic carving.