Cross-slab, An Fhaiche, Co. Kerry

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Crosses & Monuments

Cross-slab, An Fhaiche, Co. Kerry

On the southern slopes of a spur of Brandon Mountain in County Kerry, a small burial ground holds two early Christian cross-slabs.

The enclosure is irregular, stone-walled, and sits about 500 metres to the north-east of Faha village. One of the slabs is modest in scale, just 65 centimetres tall, 27 centimetres wide, and 14 centimetres thick, yet it carries on both of its faces a carefully worked design: a cross of arcs set within a circle, carved in light relief. That same motif appears on either side of the stone, which tilts slightly toward the south-south-east along its north-north-west to south-south-east alignment. The repetition of the design on both faces suggests this was no casual marking.

A cross of arcs is an early medieval form in which the arms of a cross are defined by curved lines rather than straight ones, giving the overall shape a rounded, almost floral quality within its enclosing circle. Such carvings are associated with early Christian communities in Ireland, often marking graves or boundary points within sacred enclosures. The burial ground here, known as An Cheallúnach or Calluragh, belongs to that tradition of small, locally maintained ecclesiastical sites found throughout the Dingle Peninsula, a landscape unusually dense with early medieval remains. The site was documented as part of the Corca Dhuibhne archaeological survey published in 1986 by J. Cuppage, a systematic record of the antiquities of this Irish-speaking corner of west Kerry.

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