AHENNY CELTIC CROSS

The Ahenny Celtic cross is 1 ¾” high by 1” wide. It has a polished back, stamped sterling.


This cross comes with a loop on the back so that it can be worn as a pendant.  A chain can be ordered separately here.


$59.98 USD

CELTIC HIGH CROSS OF AHENNY

Co. Tipperary, Ireland


 Ahenny is an unusual place - a graveyard with two ancient Celtic crosses. Two Celtic crosses, striking and subtly different from many crosses seen on ancient monastic sites up and down the country, and different because there is nothing in the Annals or in any other records to tell us why they are there. Of course the local people know why they are there and they also know that there were once three crosses in Ahenny and someone tried to ship one - the most beautiful if the three they tell us - out of the country (to England? to America?) but the attempt failed when it was lost either in Waterford Harbor off Passage East or further out to sea. The locals say that the three crosses marked the burial place of seven bishops of the early Irish Church. Again we have no record, but it certainly was quiet usual for seven holy men to come together to form a community of prayer. However if the crosses marked their last resting place that is unusual because Irish High Crosses celebrated living persons or large flourishing monastic communities, not burial sites. Many scholars think that the Ahenny crosses were carved at an early date, perhaps in the 8th Century. The faces of the cross have no scriptural carvings but are most beautifully decorated. At the centre of the cross are five projecting bosses, reminding us of St.Martin's cross in Iona, again raising the question about the importance of Ahenny in the past. All over the head and shaft of the cross are elaborate designs, spiral and interface and fret. Dr. Peter Harbison in his scholarly work "High Crosses of Ireland" is moved to poetry as he describes the head of the west face as "covered like a spiders web with a single panel of intricately composed coiled spirals." The faces and ring of the cross are surrounded by a high relief rope molding which adds to its distinctive appearance. The fact that the rest of the decoration is in low relief makes us ask "What did the cross look like when it was first erected?" and many would say that it must have been coloured - only in this way could the marvelous work of the sculptor been fully seen and appreciated.