Cross-inscribed pillar in Castlehill (erris By.)

In pasture, situated on a slope, overlooking an inlet on the inner reaches of Blacksod Bay. This early medieval cross-inscribed pillar stone (H 2.05m; Wth 0.63m N−S; T 0.09m E−W), roughly rectangular in shape and in cross-section, with its top sloping up to N, is incised with five crosses, three on one broad side and two on the other. A small plain equal-armed cross is incised just below the top of the E face of the pillar. It is directly above a Maltese cross in circle (diam. 0.47m), which expands to almost the full width of the stone. A stem (L 0.35m) descends from the lower edge of the circle, composed of three parallel incised lines, with two curved lines splaying from the terminals. An equal-armed cross (H of stem 0.31m; L of arms 0.22m) of three lines with expanded semi-circular terminals is incised on the lower portion of the E face, slightly offset towards the S edge of the stone. On the W face, just below the top of the stone, is a single-line equal-armed cross with curved terminals, and immediately below that is a three-line cross with looped terminals, similar in form to the three-line cross on the E face. The stone was upright, embedded in the ground with the long axis N−S, when recorded in the early 1940’s by Moran (1942, 149-151), but when inspected in 1997 it was lying on the ground, with the (original) E face uppermost and the W face concealed. The site of a castle (MA044-008----) is located 70m to N. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 18 May 2021