Cross - High cross

The National Monuments Service's description

The Crosses at Monasterboice have been described in some detail by Roe (1981) and Harbison (1992) with full references. Two crosses remain complete (the South: LH021-062007- and West: LH021-062008-), while there is also the head and part of the shaft of a third (North Cross: LH021-062009-), now re-erected on a partly modern shaft. Two other cross fragments (LH021-062020-; LH021-062021-) were found while grave-digging and are stored in the National Museum of Ireland (Lucas 1973, 198). One is the arm of a cross, badly damaged and worn, and the other is possibly the head of a similar cross. Both are of sandstone and appear to be from crosses of the same proportions (Roe 1981, 67-9). Roe (ibid. 15) states that the wealth and variety of the pictorial illustrations on the South and West Crosses are unparalleled elsewhere in Ireland.

The South Cross, also called Muiredach’s Cross, with a height of 5.2m and a width across the arms of 2.14m, is truly monumental and the sculpted biblical scenes are so finely executed that Roger Stalley (2007), the art historian, has called the unknown sculptor the Muiredach Master and has pointed to other crosses at Kells, Durrow and Clonmacnoise that are likely to have been carved by the same man. An inscription in Irish on the shaft indicates that a certain Muiredach, likely to be the Muiredach who died in 924 as successor of Buíthe and vice-abbot of Armagh, had the cross made. This in itself was no mean task as the very high quality sandstone had to be sourced, probably near Nobber, Co. Meath, quarried and transported to the site and then sculpted and erected on its base. The most significant scenes are those at the junction of the arms and shaft and central to the ring at each side, the crucifixion facing west and the last judgement facing east, with the blessed on one arm and the damned on the other. There are Old Testament scenes on the east side of the shaft and New Testament scenes on the west side. All surfaces of the stone are sculpted as is the base, which has suffered much from weathering. The inscription is carved on the base of the shaft on the west side around and between a high relief carving of two cats, one licking its kitten while the other is about to eat a small bird. There are similar whimsical carvings in the same position on the other sides: two men pulling each other’s beards, two cats fighting and two cats (?) biting each other’s tails.

This is a National Monument, in state ownership: No. 94.

See the attached views: _1 from E; _2 from W

The above description is derived from the 'Archaeological Survey of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1991). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Revised by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 11 May 2016

References

Harbison, P. 1992 The high crosses of Ireland: an iconographical and photographic survey, 3 vols. Dublin. Royal Irish Academy. Bonn. Dr. Rudolf Habelt GMBH.

Roe, H.M. 1981 Monasterboice and its monuments. Dundalk. County Louth Archaeological and Historical Society.

Lucas, A.T. 1973 National Museum of Ireland: archaeological acquisitions in the year 1969. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 103, 177-213.

Stalley, R. 2007 Artistic identity and the Irish scripture crosses. in R. Moss (ed.) Making and Meaning in Insular Art. Dublin