Lesser Spotted Crosses

I began my search for the lesser-spotted ‘Fassaroe Crosses’ some months ago for two reasons. They were said to be unique among Irish High Crosses and, also, they are in the Dublin-Wicklow area I thought I knew well.  What did I miss out on and why?

I had found the first of the crosses on the Rathmichael hiking trail but was distracted by the immense rath itself and didn’t pay enough attention to the seeming insignificant cross.

I went back to look for the old church there and found it up a narrow side trail, hidden among trees and shrubs.   

The only resemblance to crosses I could find in the graveyard were weather-beaten stone stumps that could be of any age. Then I noticed stone slabs hanging on the shaded outer wall of the church and a thought struck me.   

Before setting out I had seen references to ‘Fassaroe Crosses’ and ‘Rathdown Slabs’ in the same area that shared a common tradition. What I was looking at were the slabs. Rathmichael had more ‘slabs’ than crosses but I decided to stick with the crosses and investigate the slabs later.

Fassaroe, only ten minutes away, gave its name to that type of cross but was a disappointment. It stood alone at a quiet traffic circle, obviously moved there at the completion of road works. However the images on it were clear to see: a large Christ figure on a simple cross with the head inclined slightly to the left.  These, I was to learn, were typical ‘Fassaroe’ elements.

Other details are hard to identify but the internet assured me the front has two worn human heads, both bearded and one perhaps wearing a mitre. There are two other heads protruding from the south edge of the ring and the north-eastern side of the base. That Celtic love for heads!

Ten minutes away was the next, the so-called Kiltuc Cross. This time the unlikely location was in the modern grounds of Shankill Catholic Church to which it had been moved from the nearby St Valery estate. Here the images on the cross were not so clear but the shape was similar and there was another protruding head on the lower part.     

Kilgobbin, a further ten minutes away, was a surprise. There, at the edge of Dublin suburbs, was a scene from the Irish countryside.  A Celtic Cross stood on the roadside beneath a mount with a ruined church, an early monastic settlement founded by a local St Gobbin. Part of the cross is missing and the figure on it is worn but it looked more like a ‘traditional’ Irish Cross with a pierced circle. Inside the church ruins were more Rathdown slabs!

By this stage I was beginning to recognise the comparatively large figure of Christ, the leaning neck and the protruding heads as elements that made the Fassaroe Crosses special. The experts uncovered further details but you need the internet to see them.

So much for the crosses. I was amazed that so many traces of a unique cultural background existed near each other in an area I thought l knew well.

Where did the inspiration come from and who was involved?  I hoped I would find out some of the answers when I visited their near relatives, the ‘Rathdown Slabs’.