Cross, Kilbeg, Co. Wicklow

Co. Wicklow |

Crosses & Monuments

Cross, Kilbeg, Co. Wicklow

In the rough grazing land of Kilbeg in County Wicklow, a granite cross lies recumbent on a north-west-facing slope, its two faces telling quietly contradictory stories.

One side is smooth and well-cut, worked with evident care; the other is left rough, almost unfinished. Whether this asymmetry reflects a change of plan, a deliberate liturgical convention, or simply the limits of whoever shaped it, is not recorded anywhere.

The cross measures 1.05 metres in height and 0.67 metres in width, mounted on a narrower shaft just 0.28 metres wide and 0.15 metres thick. It is crudely shaped overall, the granite giving it a blocky, unpretentious form that sits at some distance from the refined high crosses more commonly associated with early Irish ecclesiastical sites. Granite is notoriously difficult to carve with precision, and the roughness of the piece may owe as much to the material as to the skill or intention of its maker. Recumbent crosses, that is, crosses that have fallen or been laid flat rather than standing upright, are relatively common across Ireland, though the reasons for their current position vary considerably from one site to the next. Here, no firm explanation is attached to the stone.

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