Cross - High cross, Laughanstown, Co. Dublin

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Crosses & Monuments

Cross – High cross, Laughanstown, Co. Dublin

At the roadside in Laughanstown, on the southern fringe of County Dublin, a granite cross from around the tenth or eleventh century stands in a setting that is not quite original.

The cross itself is ancient; the two-metre cube of stone beneath it is a later intervention, added sometime after 1860. That mismatch, an early medieval monument lifted onto a Victorian pedestal, gives the whole thing a slightly incongruous quality, as though the cross has been formally presented rather than simply left where history deposited it.

High crosses, which typically feature a ring connecting the arms of the cross, are among the most recognisable forms of early Christian stonework in Ireland, often elaborately carved with biblical scenes or interlace patterns. This one is comparatively plain, which makes it no less interesting. Standing 2.34 metres tall with a ring 0.9 metres across, it is cut from granite and carries little surface ornament beyond a shingle pattern worked into the roof of its house-shaped capstone, a small architectural detail that mimics the form of a miniature stone building, possibly evoking a reliquary or shrine. On the upper surface of the base, a deeply incised Latin cross was cut at some point, though whether this predates or postdates the 1860s resetting is not recorded in the sources. The cross stands roughly 110 metres northwest of Tully church, a medieval site in its own right, suggesting the two were once part of the same ecclesiastical landscape.

The cross sits beside the road and is visible without any significant effort to reach it, though the surrounding area has changed considerably with suburban development pushing outward from Dublin. Tully church nearby is worth locating on a map before visiting, as it provides useful orientation. The incised Latin cross on the base surface is easy to miss unless you look directly down at it, so it rewards a closer inspection than a passing glance might prompt.

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