Cross - Wayside cross

The National Monuments Service's description

Broken wayside cross now survives in two fragments. Chamfered shaft of cross standing inside small stone walled structure on E side of road with partially damaged solid ringed-head of cross lying on the ground immediately W of shaft. Drawn by Du Noyer (George Victor Du Noyer, “on road side near Fore. Td. Of Lackill and Moortown, Co. W. Meath. Sheet 3/4. Calvary Cross,” Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, accessed January 27, 2020, http://rsai.locloudhosting.net/items/show/23414.) in the 19th century and described in 1928 as 'A cross about 6ft. (1.8m) in height, 3ft. 2in. (0.95m) across the arms, and having a solid ring 2ft. (0.6m) in diameter. The cross is broken below the head. The base is 3ft. 6in. (1.07m) square. It stands in a recess in the eastern fence of the road rather more than half a mile N. of Fore, and a short distance from No. 10 (WM004-025----)' (Crawford 1928, 60, no. 11). Described in 1980 as 'The shaft and head of a large stone solid ringed cross. The cross is in two fragments. The shaft is set in the ground with no sign of a base and the solid ring head is set in the field bank behind it and obscured by the shaft and by the field bank. The shaft (H 0.89m; top Wth 0.23m; base Wth 0.28m; T 0.26m) is of rectangular cross-section with chamfered edges and is plain. It tapers from the bottom up. The head (Wth 0.59m; H 0.69m; T 0.2m) is damaged and one arm is missing. The exposed face is quite plain. The edges are not chamfered. The cross is set into a field bank on the E side of the roadway. It is in a small recess which is partly faced with dry stone walling. An old barrell is now lying on top of the head along with some other rubbish and bits of wood' (SMR file). A wayside cross (WM004-010----) is 660m to the NNW and a second wayside cross (WM004-025----) is 120m to the SSE.

Compiled and updated by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of revised upload: 14 April 2015

References

Crawford, H. S. 1928 List of the Wayside Crosses near Fore, County Westmeath. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 58, 57-62.