What is recorded here

Half a cross stands in County Dublin, torn from a Meath churchyard when a grave was cut. Its remaining stone still holds a knot of interlace, a human figure lifting a book, and an animal born from a spiral coil. The missing half may have fallen, been broken or carried away, but the visible part keeps the shape of a place that once stood complete.

This damaged head of a sandstone high cross (H 0.63m; original Wth c. 0.45m) is almost certainly that described by Wilde (1857, 1, 141-2) as having been dug up 'in making a grave in the old churchyard of Donaughmore, near Navan', Co. Meath (ME025-015004-). It is described by Harbison (1992, 185) as follows: ‘Almost half the head and much of the shaft of the cross are missing. What remains shows, on Face 1 . . . that cross and ring are decorated with roll mouldings, and that the shaft was divided into panels, probably unsculpted. The centre of the cross has a knot of interlace winch expands into the arms and shaft. On the upper limb the interlace develops into a human figure holding up a book. The lower surviving section of the imperforate ring is decorated with a fret pattern while the upper section has an animal emanating above and below from a central spiral coil. Face 2 . . . has been roughly dressed, but bears no traces of sculpture.’ (Harbison 1992, 185) Compiled by: Paul Walsh Date of upload: 27 June, 2014

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