Cross - Tau Cross (present location)

The National Monuments Service's description

A T-shaped cross carved from a single piece of limestone. The cross is in the Clare Heritage Museum in Corofin but originally stood on Roughan Hill close to the road from Kilnaboy to Kilfenora and adjacent to a cashel (CL016-052001-) and souterrain (CL016-052003-). A replica now stands in its place at its original location (CL016-052002-). The cross has been the subject of several theories as to its origin and was ‘removed’ and returned a number of times (Harbison 2009). It is named ‘Cross Inneenboy’ (the cross of the daughter of Baoth) on the OS 6-inch maps at its original location in Roughaun townland and may have been a termon cross or boundary marker for Kilnaboy. According to Harbison (2000, 57,59) it may have copied a T-shaped staff or crozier reliquary and he postulates that it was possibly part of an ancient pilgrimage route in North Clare. T-shaped croziers are depicted on a graveslab in Killinaboy (CL017-020014-), on the N side of the base of the Dysert O’Dea high cross (CL025-091004-) and on the E face of the Doorty Cross in Kilfenora (CL016-015006-). In 1937 Dr. Adolf Mahr asserted that the tau cross might be part of a La Tene tradition but Rynne (1967, 162) concluded that given the topographical association with the other representations of tau-croziers in conjuction with affinities of style with other adjacent monuments, it was in fact a Romanesque boundary marker.
The cross (H 0.43m; Wth across the arms 0.69m; D 0.18m) was aligned NE-SW in its original location and was set in a large boulder-like outcropping rock. It has a carved head facing upwards on each ‘arm’ with three raised transverse ribs placed centrally between them. MacMahon (2017, 97) postulates that these ribs symbolize a wound of decapitation and that the Christian church modified the pagan Celtic theme of the severed head to its own purpose as a symbol of Christian martyrdom. The heads are identical with hoods and long straight necks and they face the centre. Each arm is slightly raised above horizontal and is curved underneath. The shaft is rectangular (Wth 0.29m; D 0.15m) with three chamfered edges. A photograph taken by Westropp in 1894 (Harbison 2009, 32) when the cross had been returned after 30 years shows a round-ended stone beside the cross which may have formed the bottom of the shaft. This fragment (L 0.48m; Wth 0.28m; T 0.1m)(CL016-052004-) is in the OPW Depot in Athenry where it has the number GA084-151005-. Apparently the fragment does not fit the base of the existing shaft and so another interim portion must have fitted in between. If this is the case the cross would have been more than 1.5m (c. 5ft) high originally. This is a national monument in State care, no. 574. (MacNamara 1900, 22-9; Rynne 1967; Harbison 2000; Harbison 2009)

The following images are attached:
CL017-116003-_01.jpg The tau cross in its original setting.
CL017-116003-_02.jpg The top of the tau cross in its original setting.
CL017-116003-_03.jpg The tau cross in its current setting.
CL017-116003-_04.jpg The replica at the original location of the tau cross.

Compiled by: Mary Tunney

Date of upload: 6 May 2015

References

MacNamara, G. 1900 The ancient stone crosses of Ui Fearmaic, Co. Clare. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 30, 22-33.

MacMahon, M. 2017 St. Iníon Baoith alias St. Winifred and the Tau Cross of Killinaboy. The Other Clare 41, 94-100.

Rynne, E. 1967 The Tau cross at Killinaboy: pagan or Christian? In Rynne, E. (ed.) North Munster Studies: papers in honour of Monsignor Michael Moloney, 30-33. Limerick. Thomond Archaeological Society.

Harbison, P. 2000 An ancient pilgrimage ‘relic-road' in North Clare? The Other Clare 24, 55-9.

Harbison, P. 2009 The moves and removes of the tau cross from Killinaboy. The Other Clare 33, 30-33.