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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Cross - High cross

Clonmacnoise, County Offaly, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Cross - High cross, Clonmacnoise, County Offaly, with a pin at the register's coordinates
Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915), covering this location. Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland. The pin is ours, placed from the register's coordinates.

The record

Townland
Clonmacnoise
County
Offaly
Country
Ireland
Latest-edition OS map
Not indicated
Coordinates
53.32627, -7.98602
SMR number
OF005-019----

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

4 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1790 map "Composite: Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).

Historical maps covering this location

  • 1790 · Composite: Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1811 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1869 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1891 · Ireland 16 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

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This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗

The National Monuments Service's description

National Monument No. 81. Shaft of high cross which was found in the wall of St. Ciarans church (OF005-013001-) in 1955 (Hicks 1980, 6). The shaft of the cross (H 0.59m; Wth 0.33m; D 0.16m) is decorated with interlaced beasts in Hiberno-Romanesque style (Edwards 1984, 57-62). Now on display in the Clonmacnoise Interpretative Centre.

Described by Harbison (1992 vol. 1, 56) as following 'A fragment of the upper part of the shaft of a sandstone cross which Liam de Paor found in 1955, buried in the wall of St. Ciaran's church (OF005-013001-). It is 59cm high, 33cm wide and 17cm deep. It has a roll moulding on the edges, with a smaller rib-moulding beside it.

EAST SIDE
A vertical panel of interlace.

SOUTH FACE
Two upright lions with interlocking jaws facing one another.

WEST SIDE
A panel of interlaced Stafford knots.

NORTH FACE
The north face is covered with interlace'.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload: 23 May 2011

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.

Hicks, C. 1980 A Clonmacnoise workshop in stone. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 110, 5-35.

Edwards, N. 1984 Two sculptural fragments from Clonmacnois. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 114, 57-62.

Nearby in the register

Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.

Sites and Monuments Record data: National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Record text is reproduced unchanged. National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland · CC BY 4.0
All Cross - High cross in Offaly All County Offaly records All Ireland Heritage registers Historical markers (US)National Register of Historic Places (US)
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