Cross-inscribed stone, Baile An Reannaigh, Co. Kerry

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Crosses & Monuments

Cross-inscribed stone, Baile An Reannaigh, Co. Kerry

On the Dingle Peninsula there once existed a carved stone that nobody can now locate.

The last reliable record of it is a drawing, and the stone itself has quietly vanished from the archaeological record, its current whereabouts unknown.

The stone, associated with the early ecclesiastical site of Cill Mhic Uíleáin (anglicised as Cillvickillane), measured roughly 2.5 feet in length and carried a Latin cross, the form most commonly found on early medieval Irish carved stones. What made it distinctive was the detailing: the head and arms of the cross terminated in bifid, or forked, ends, and the lower shaft featured two barb-like projections on either side, giving the whole composition an unusual, almost heraldic quality. Two antiquarians recorded it independently: Pelham in 1804 and Windele in 1838, each leaving drawings that now serve as the only evidence of its existence. That two observers thought it worth documenting across three decades suggests it was, at the time, a visible and reasonably accessible object. What happened to it after Windele's visit is not recorded.

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Pete F
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