Shrine

The National Monuments Service's description

Two 'posts' of a corner-post shrine currently located in a small display area 5m SE of the church (TS075023001-) to the N and S of the E cross (TS075-023002-). Both posts are of similar size and design, each a tapering slab (L c. 1.4m) with a wheeled cross in relief on one face. Each slab has two rectangular mortises in one side and were evidently part of a composite composition (Waddell and Holland 1990, 179). Duignan postulated that the two pillars and the E cross may have formed a unit, the pillars representing the thieves' crosses at Calvery (ibid.). Ó Carragáin (2003, 166) interprets these cross-pillars as 'posts' from a 'corner-post shrine of both wood and stone; and, though not closely dateable, the ringed crosses on the posts would not be out of place in an eight or ninth century context'. The N post, though found intact is currently embedded in the ground (H above ground 1.08m). It is a roughly rectangular stone (Wth at top 0.28m; Wth at ground level 0.32m; T at top 0.13m; T at ground level 0.24m). The upper mortise also has a dowel hole. The upper portion of the S post, with the wheeled cross (Wth 0.32m; H 0.42m; max. T 0.17m), is currently upside down on top of a block of stone (Wth at top 0.29m; Wth at base 0.32m; H 0.26m; T 0.13-0.17m) which rests on another block of stone (Wth 0.33m; H 0.27m; max. T 0.2m) with a cross shaft (Wth 0.05m) and border in relief on one side. Only the upper mortise is currently visible. Okasha and Forsyth (2001, 288) suggest that two other smaller pillars (TS075-023074-; TS075-023075-) may also form part of this shrine.

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 25 March 2014

References

Okasha, E. and Forsyth, K. 2001 Early Christian inscriptions of Munster: a corpus of the inscribed stones. Cork University Press.

Waddell, J. and Holland, P. 1990 The Peakaun site: Duignan's 1944 investigations. Tipperary Historical Journal, 165-86.

Ó Carragáin, T. 2003 The architectural setting of the cult of relics in early medieval Ireland. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 133, 130-76.