Cross-inscribed pillar

The National Monuments Service's description

Associated with an ecclesiastical enclosure (MA098-003002-).
This dramatic cross-inscribed pillar is a National Monument in state ownership (no. 297). It consists of a tall thin angular shard of stone (H c. 2.5m; Wth c. 0.3m N-S at base; T 0.21m at base), tapering to a narrow pointed top, which is decorated on the broad E and W faces with elaborate incised designs. The carvings are position on the upper half of the stone and expand to its full width. The upper section of the stone is broken, a piece having sheared off vertically on one side, slighting the designs on both faces of the stone.The stone now tilts gently to NE; there are a few large stones embedded in the ground at its base, probably support stones.
The W face features an unusual and complex design composed of three components: two circular motifs united by a V-shaped arrangement of vertical lines. The upper portion of the design is an incised circle enclosing a cross, embellished in the quadrants with concentric arcs which converge along the midline of the horizontal bar of the cross. Four vertical lines in a roughly V-shaped arrangement, with series of chevrons of unequal size decorating the spaces between the lines, descend from the lower arc of the cross-in-circle, converging at their base with a circular motif consisting of four concentric circles. The two outermost vertical lines of the ‘V’ appear to cut through the two outer rings of the concentric circles converging in a point at the third (from exterior) ring. The arrangement of the four vertical lines is asymmetrical as the two lines on the S side (or R when facing the stone) are more widely spaced, with the inner of the two in line with the vertical shaft of the cross-in-circle, thus serving as the centreline of the vertical V-shape and forming a continuation of the shaft of the cross. The chevrons which decorate the intervening space between these two lines are larger and seem more regular in execution that the smaller chevrons that fill the narrower space between the ‘central’ vertical and the next vertical line to N (or L if facing the stone); the narrow space between the latter and the outermost northern vertical line is blank/undecorated.
On the E face of the pillar is a double circle enclosing a single-line cross which appears to have expanded terminals. The cross may have been intended as an equal-armed cross but the horizontal line is not quite central. Close below this, is a circular motif of four concentric circles, almost identical to that on the W face of the pillar. There is a slight horizontal dip or concavity in the stone surface between these two motifs, and a series of natural parallel vertical grooves traverse this face of the stone.
The unusual designs, in particular the concentric circles and seemingly abstract quality of the vertical lines and chevrons, prompted Henry (1952, 70-71) to suggest that the stone was of megalithic origin. While the stone itself may be a reused prehistoric standing stone, the current consensus is that the decorative motifs date to the Christian era (Corlett 2014, 62).

Attached images:
MA098-003007-_02.JPG West face
MA098-003007-_01.JPG East face

Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 12 January 2022

References

Henry, F. 1952 Megalithic and Early Christian remains at Lankill, Co. Mayo Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 82, 68-71

Corlett, C. 2014 The early church in Umhall, west Mayo. In C. Corlett & M. Potterton (eds) The Church in Early Medieval Ireland in the light of recent archaeological excavations,39-92. Wordwell.