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Medieval Stonework of Co Kilkenny.
Good evening ladies and gentlemen.
This is I believe my fourth talk to your society, here at this wonderful
venue.
To night I will talk mainly about the finely crafted stonework in which
the ancient kingdom of Ossery abounds. Rather than talk of people
,places and events, I will outline the beliefs which motivated people
for over a thousand years.
My talk will fall into two parts; 1) the Celtic Church of the 1st
millennium, when we were said to be ‘an island of saints and
scholars’. 2) The Roman Church
1) the Celtic Church of the 1st millennium. In this period was created
our magnificent metalwork, illustrated gospels, high crosses and the
round towers. The missionary work of Irish monks can be traced to
Scotland, Nth England, France, Italy, Switzerland, Luxembourg and
Germany.
Historians & scholars all agree that the spread of Christianity
throughout Ireland was unusually rapid. The evidence for this is found
in surviving documents, hymns, poems and of course the stone
crosses. The process was more of a ‘merger’ than a ‘take over’.
There are between 60-70 surviving crosses in Ireland. Most of them
were crafted between the 8th and 10th centuries. A few are thought to
be later ( 11 -12th c), mainly in Connacht/Ulster in areas free of
Norman control. The high cross began as a carved slab with a simple
engraved inscription or design.
The Nore, Suir valleys has a fine grained sandstone ideal for carving.
According to the map [shown in a later slide]; some counties have
crosses everywhere, whereas other counties have few or none. This
surely has something to do with the availability of suitable stone. ie no
stone , no carvers!. The stone itself was most probably found as field
boulders in each locality. Transporting heavy stones in those distant
times was a major problem.
It is important to stress that the crosses of the 1st millennium are not
memorials or headstones (only one exception @ Kilkea). All
examples were located at the entrance of a former monastery facing
East/West. Their purpose to inspire and instruct the faithful.
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The earlier stone crosses were simple in design but gradually
become more elaborate in shape and decoration. The earlier carvings
reflected the druidic beliefs with which Irish Christianity had blended .
An emphasis on nature, natural phenomena, the sun as a methaphor
for Christ are recurring themes. As the millennium progressed the
ancient symbols and abstract patterns were replaced with panels
illustrating scenes from scripture, mainly the Old Testament. A
feature of the Kilkenny crosses is that they are difficult to date from
the designs alone. The older druidic forms were retained for many
centuries.
Sources;
Irish High Crosses.
Sun & Cross.
Françoise Henry.
Jacob Streit.
[ Three Candles,Dublin 1964]
[ Floris Books. 1997 ]
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Part II
2) The Roman Church.of the 2nd millennium covers the later part of the medieval
period,[ what we consider the ‘middle ages’]. This was a much darker period of
our history. Native Irish arts and crafts and scholarship lost the sponsorship and
encouragement of the new establishment and forced it to conform to mainstream
(Norman/European) norms. High crosses went out of fashion with the
monasteries. Interestingly they reappeared in a more simplified form as
memorials in the late 19th c.,a time of Gaelic revival in Ireland and among our
expatriates abroad.
I have used the fine craftwork of surviving tombs as examples of stonework skills
for that period. Shapes and iconography were generally similar to and followed
the fashion of Britain & France at that time. In the period 1500-1550 the
O’Tunney stoneyard based at Callan produced remarkably well crafted chest
tombs and memorials for the nobility. Examples may be seen in St Canice’s
Cathedral, Jerpoint Abbey, Gowran Abbey and Kilcooley Abbey (Co Tipperary)