What is recorded here

In the sacristy at Abbeyshrule, a short sandstone shaft stands without arms, its broken top exposing the violence done to it. Interlace and a meander pattern still climb the western face, marking the column as a product of human pride rather than anonymous decay. The cross moved from the graveyard into the church, leaving behind the burial ground where it once watched the dead.

Now in the sacristy of the R.C. church in the village of Abbeyshrule, this high cross was originally located in the burial ground (LF023-113002-) c. 70m to the NE of the Cistercian abbey (LF023-113----). Crawford (1924, 171) recorded that the shaft of the cross was broken off above the socket and was loose in the graveyard; the arms were missing. Described by Harbison (1992, vol. 1, 9) as an armless sandstone cross (H 0. 97m; max. Wth 0.27m; T 0.1m) with a thistle-shaped head. There is a possible ringed cross at the centre of the E face. The shaft of the W face is decorated with interlace, and on the head there is a central round boss enclosed by two roll mouldings. Decoration on the sides includes vertical ribs in false relief and a meander pattern. Similar crosses are found at Laughanstown (DU026-023003-), county Dublin, Layd, county Antrim and Kildalton on the island of Islay in Scotland (Crawford 1907, 190; 1924, 171). Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 6 June 2013

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