Cross

The National Monuments Service's description

At a T-junction in the centre of Kilconnell village. This cross, a National Monument, was erected 1682 as a memorial to the Donnellan family. It is set on a rectangular limestone base (L 0.71m, Wth 0.69m) sitting on two tiers of steps which have been surrounded on three sides by a low protective wall. The cross has an octagonal shaft above which is a bulbous inscribed capital topped by a plain cross (H 0.52m), also octagonal in profile. Both the shaft and cross have the same tooling and may be 19th century replacements. The capital bears the following inscription: ORATE PRO D. JOHANNE / DONNELLANO EIUSQUE / FAMILIA QUI HANC CRUCEM / ERIGI FECIT, / 1682 - which may be translated as 'Pray for John Donnellan and his family who cause this cross to be erected, 1682'. Below this is carved 'Re erected by Revd W. Manning, P.P. Kilcll 1844'. The 'd' of Rev and 'cll' following Kill are in superscript characters indicating contractions for 'Reverend' and 'Kilconnell' respectively. Fr William Manning was parish priest of Kilconnell in 1844. Kilconnell Friary (GA086-001----) lies 160m to NE. (Vigors 1891, 373; Crawford 1907b. 212; Killanin and Duignan 1967, 318)

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. II - North Galway'. Compiled by Olive Alcock, Kathy de hÓra and Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1999).

Updated by: Paul Walsh

Date of revised upload: 16 September 2014

References

Vigors P.D. 1891 Kilconnell Abbey. The journal of the association for the preservation of the memorials of the dead in Ireland. 1, 373-9.

Crawford, H.S. 1907b Miscellanea: the Burke effigy at Glinsk, Co. Galway. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 37, 307-8.