What is recorded here

Cill Éinne preserves a cross-inscribed stone because Arkin fort still carries a simple equal-armed cross on the lintel of its road-side gun loop. The carving matches a dated Healy cross above an Inis Oírr holy well, joining a small Galway habit of marking stone with faith and name. Healy may have been a mason, a traveller or a local man proud enough to sign his work; that uncertainty keeps the cross alive.

A simple equal-armed cross with expanded terminals is carved on the interior of the lintel of the gun loop nearest the road of Arkin fort (GA119-005001-). 'This carving is very similar both in size and style to another cross which was carved on the bare vertical rockface above a holy well [GA120-004----] on Inis Oírr. The latter is accompanied by the date ‘1818’ and the name ‘J’ or ‘I Healy’. Such crosses are a special feature of Galway city and its environs and are to be found carved on both public buildings and private dwellings alike. The carvings sometimes incorporate the religious monogram IHS and many bear the same ‘Healy’ name: most are dated 1816. Who Healy was or why he chose to be remembered in this way is a mystery’ (Walsh 1994, 157-8). GA119-005002-_01.jpg: Right - illustration of the cross (GA119-005002-) carved on the lintel of the gun loop at Arkin fort (GA119-005001-) and left - the dated cross carved on the rock face above the holy well (GA120-004----) on Inis Oírr. Compiled by: Paul Walsh Date of upload: 24 July 2015

This cross-inscribed stone dates likely to the early Christian period (5th–9th centuries AD) and may have had a religious or symbolic function, possibly associated with a small monastic or domestic site. The style of the cross suggests a connection to Insular Christian art traditions.

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