Most graveyards in Ireland hold a cross or two. The one at Castledermot, in the south of County Kildare, holds three high crosses, a medieval church, and upwards of twenty cross-slabs and graveslabs clustered together in a single enclosure. That density of carved stonework, spanning centuries of Christian monastic tradition, makes this a place where the sheer accumulation of objects does the talking.

Castledermot, known in early medieval sources as Disert Diarmada, the hermitage of Saint Diarmait, was an important monastic settlement from at least the ninth century. High crosses, which typically feature a ring connecting the arms of the cross and panels of carved biblical or interlace decoration, were produced at major Irish monasteries during the early Christian period, broadly from the eighth to the twelfth century. Having three in one graveyard, alongside the remains of a church and an unusually large collection of cross-slabs, flat stones incised or carved with crosses and sometimes inscriptions, suggests this was once a site of considerable status and activity. Cross-slabs in particular often marked individual graves and can range from simple incised lines to elaborate compositions; a gathering of twenty or more in one place points to centuries of continuous use by a community that valued this ground.

The graveyard remains accessible and the carved stones are visible in situ, which means they can be read, compared, and considered without any intermediary. The variation across the slabs alone, in technique, wear, and design, gives a sense of just how long this place was in active use.