Spring Rice Monument

Cut limestone Celtic Revival high cross style monument, erected c. 1900, having inscribed triangular plinth and recessed panels to cross. Situated on a hill overlooking Foynes Harbour. The inscription reads: 'To the dear memory of Stephen Edmond Spring Rice born in Limerick 31 August 1814 died at sea 9 May 1865. The tenants on the Mount Trenchard and Ballycormick estates raised this cross of love gratitude and admiration.'

This monument was erected to the memory of Stephen Edmond Spring Rice (1814-1865) who died at sea. He was the eldest son of Thomas Spring Rice (1780-1866), Lord Monteagle. Stephen never succeeded to the estate and title as he died at sea, a year before Tomas died. He managed the Mount Trenchard estate while his father pursued a political career. Stephen is now remembered as a liberal Protestant landlord who favoured Catholic Emancipation. Prominently sited to the west of Foynes, the cross forms a local landmark in the area. Finely carved, the monument is a notable example of late nineteenth- early twentieth-century stone masonry.