What is recorded here

Monasterboice still stands with two complete high crosses and a rebuilt third, their sandstone surfaces crowded with biblical scenes that rival anywhere else in Ireland. The Tall West Cross rises seven metres beside the old church, carrying David or the Ascension on one face and the crucifixion on the other, while fragments recovered during grave-digging suggest a lost companion cross once shared the field. People may have walked past them for centuries, reading stone as easily as scripture, before modern hands re-erected what time had broken.

The Crosses at Monasterboice have been described in some detail by Roe (1981) and Harbison (1992) with full references. Two crosses remain complete (the South: LH021-062007- and West: LH021-062008-), while there is also the head and part of the shaft of a third (North Cross: LH021-062009-), now re-erected on a partly modern shaft. Two other cross fragments (LH021-062020-; LH021-062021-) were found while grave-digging and are stored in the National Museum of Ireland (Lucas 1973, 198). One is the arm of a cross, badly damaged and worn, and the other is possibly the head of a similar cross. Both are of sandstone and appear to be from crosses of the same proportions (Roe 1981, 67-9). Roe (ibid. 15) states that the wealth and variety of the pictorial illustrations on the South and West Crosses are unparalleled elsewhere in Ireland. The West Cross, also called the Tall Cross, situated close to the North Church and the round tower, is 7.1m high and is again sculpted all over with biblical scenes. As with Muiredach’s Cross the crucifixion is in the centre of the cross head on the west side. There is some debate about the identification of the scene on the east side of the cross head, which has been variously interpreted as David among the Israelites, the Ascension, the Second Coming of Christ or Joshua. The Old Testament scenes are largely on the east face and the New Testament scenes on the west face. This is a National Monument, in state ownership: No. 94. See the attached view from E The above description is derived from the 'Archaeological Survey of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1991). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Revised by: Con Manning Date of upload: 11 May 2016

The high crosses at Monasterboice were likely built in the 9th or 10th century by a monastic community, possibly under the influence of the nearby Monastery of Boice. They are carved in the Insular style, with Christian iconography, and are significant as outstanding examples of early medieval stone sculpture in Ireland.

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