Cross-slab, Oldcourt, Co. Wicklow
Co. Wicklow |
Crosses & Monuments
At Oldcourt in County Wicklow, a modest but persistent detail surfaces in the historical record: cross-inscribed slabs, stones carved with simple crosses and left, presumably, at an early ecclesiastical site.
Cross-slabs of this type are among the more unassuming relics of early Christian Ireland, lacking the elaboration of the great high crosses yet carrying the same basic impulse, to mark sacred ground with the sign of the faith, often over burial plots or at the boundaries of monastic enclosures.
The documentary trail here is thin but traceable. A 1949 account by Liam Price notes that some old cross-inscribed slabs still remain at the site, a passing remark that nonetheless anchored the location in subsequent records. The language Price uses, "still remain", implies survival against some odds, though no further detail about the number, condition, or precise character of the stones was recorded at that time.
