Celtic
Cross of Ahenny
Ahenny is an unusual place - a graveyard with two ancient Celtic
crosses. Two Celtic crosses, striking and subtly different from
many crosses seen on ancient monastic sites up and down the country,
and different because there is nothing in the Annals or in any other
records to tell us why they are there.
Of course the local people know why they are there and they also
know that there were once three crosses in Ahenny and someone tried
to ship one - the most beutiful if the three they tell us - out
of the country (to England? to America?) but the attempt failed
when it was lost either in Waterford Harbour off Passage East or
further out to sea. The locals say that the three crosses marked
the burial place of seven bishops of the early Irish Church. Again
we have no record, but it certainly was quiet usual for seven holy
men to come together to form a community of prayer. However if the
crosses marked their last resting place that is unusual because
Irish High Crosses celebrated living persons or large flourishing
monastic communities, not burial sites.
Many scholars think that the Ahenny crosses were carved at an early
date, perhaps in the 8th Century. The faces of the cross have no
scriptural carvings but are most beutifully decorated. At the centre
of the cross are five projecting bosses, reminding us of St.Martin's
cross in Iona, again raising the question about the importance of
Ahenny in the past. All over the head and shaft of the cross are
elaborate designs, spiral and interface and fret. Dr. Peter Harbison
in his scholary work "High Crosses of Ireland" is moved
to poetry as he describes the head of the west face as "covered
like a spiders web with a single panel of intricately composed coiled
spirals." The faces and ring of the cross are surrounded by
a high relief rope moulding adding to its distinctive apperance.
The fact that the rest of the decoration is in low relief makes
us ask "What did the cross look like when it was first erected?"
and many would say that it must have been coloured - only in this
way could the marvellous work of the sculptor been fully seen and
appreciated.
Celtic
Cross of Ahenny replica cross in gold or silver
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