Cross, Lugduff, Co. Wicklow
Co. Wicklow |
Crosses & Monuments
A large stone cross standing in a field is not, in itself, unusual in County Wicklow.
What makes this one quietly interesting is its material: mica schist, a metamorphic rock with a faintly glittering, layered quality, shaped here into a Latin cross and seated in a base of the same stone. The cross measures 1.4 metres tall and nearly a metre wide, with a thickness of just 0.14 metres, giving it a broad, flat presence rather than the more massive bulk of some early medieval examples.
The cross sits approximately 8.65 metres to the north-east of the north-east corner of the chancel of the adjacent church at Lugduff, placing it in precise spatial relationship to an ecclesiastical structure rather than standing entirely alone. Patrick Healy recorded and drew it during a supplementary survey of ancient monuments at Glendalough carried out for the Office of Public Works in 1972, and it is through that unpublished report that the cross's dimensions and position were formally documented. Lugduff lies within the broader Glendalough valley, a monastic landscape whose monuments range from the well-known round tower and cathedral to smaller, less-visited remains scattered across the surrounding hillsides and townlands.