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Home , Down Cathedral, High cross, River Quoile, Storey

Saving the High

High are known world-wide as iconic monuments of Early Christian Ireland. Numbering over 230 in total, they can still be seen at many famous monastic sites, such as , Durrow and Kells. The crosses were probably erected to mark boundaries and important locations, and could have been a focus of prayer, teaching and penance. They range in date from the 8th to the 12th centuries, and display beautifully carved ornament and, in many cases, biblical scenes in stone. However, the ravages of time are taking their toll on the high crosses of Ireland. Many are gradually losing their carvings as a result of rain, pollution, organic growth and other causes of damage. Those who value this rich sculptural resource are taking action to protect the crosses, while keeping them as a focus of cultural interest in the places and communities where they originated.

Following the lead taken in the , where high crosses at Clonmacnoise and Cashel were carefully moved inside and replaced by high quality replicas, Down County Museum in Downpatrick, , in , embarked on a similar project to save the 1100-year old Downpatrick High Cross in 2013. The Dean and Chapter of Down Cathedral were anxious that the so-called , which had been standing outside the east end of the Cathedral since 1897, was in danger of being worn away by the weather, and its carvings could be lost forever (fig. 1). As the Cross was not in its original position, it seemed practical to move it a very short distance to Down County Museum for display and interpretation in a new purpose-built extension, built to the rear of the Museum complex. The Department of the Environment (Northern Ireland) supported the move, as the first step towards protecting high crosses in Northern Ireland, and gave permission for the move to go ahead.

Although some high crosses have survived intact in their original positions, such as the magnificent Arboe High Cross in County Tyrone, many have been moved and damaged over the centuries. The great Armagh High Cross once stood outside the entrance of the monastery, before being vandalised in the early nineteenth century. Huge sections of the shaft and cross-head survive today, but cannot be put back together as a result of the damage it has suffered. The Downpatrick High Cross also stood outside a gateway, at the foot of the street leading up to the Hill of Down, an ancient ditched enclosure where tradition has it that St Patrick himself was buried in either 461 or 493 AD. The High Cross stood at the junction of three streets – the modern English, Scotch and Irish Streets – where the town’s market grew up outside the monastic precinct (fig. 2). It was probably erected here about the year 900 AD, but is first mentioned only in 1617, when the coffins of the deceased were carried around it in solemn procession before burial. In 1729 it had become an obstacle to traffic and was dismantled, and in 1744 it is recorded as lying in fragments outside the Courthouse at the top of English Street. At that time three large pieces survived – a 1.2m high cross-head, a 1.5m high cross-shaft and a socket stone in the shape of a 90cm cube – all carved out of ‘lapis molaris or grit’, that is granite. It was only reconstructed in 1897, with two stones at its base, when the Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club raised funds to rebuild it outside the east end of Down Cathedral.

The stone used for the Downpatrick High Cross has been identified by geologist Ian Meighan as G2 coarse-grained Outer Mourne granite – an intractably hard rock formed over 56 million years ago, notable for its pink and white feldspar, black biotite mica and dark shiny quartz. The quartz sparkles in sunlight, and this may be the reason that such a hard stone was selected for carving by the patron and sculptor of the Downpatrick High Cross. The slabs of granite required for the High Cross were probably sourced somewhere near the Bloody Bridge River on the southern approach to Slieve Donard, Ulster’s highest mountain, and transported to the shore for carriage by boat around the County Down coast, through the Narrows into Lough, and finally up the River Quoile to the Hill of Down (fig. 3). A similar route has been proposed for the transportation of G2 Mourne granite millstones for use in the early medieval tidal mill at Nendrum monastery on Mahee Island in – the earliest known tidal mill in the world, initially constructed in 619 AD.

By analogy with other high crosses, it is clear that when the Victorians reconstructed the Downpatrick High Cross in 1897, they orientated it the wrong way, in order to face the easily recognisable Crucifixion scene towards the viewer approaching Down Cathedral from the Mall (fig. 4). However, high crosses still in their original positions, such as the example at Arboe in County Tyrone, display the Crucifixion facing west, and this led to the decision to imitate this western orientation in the reconstruction of the Cross in the new Museum gallery.

The gradual weathering and biodeterioration of the monument was noted by experts in the 1990s. Comparison of black-and-white photographs of the Cross dating to about 1900 with modern images showed considerable losses of carved detail due to weathering, made worse by environmental pollution. A conservation report on the monument in 2011 noted organic growth, fractures in the stone and insect infestation. Lichen and moss were growing on the monument and would need to be removed. There was also the possibility of deliberate or accidental damage to the High Cross - the rounded corner mouldings of the cross-shaft had already been removed by fragments being chipped off, perhaps for protective amulets, as the Cross was probably associated with the nearby shrine of St Patrick.

Although the High Cross was in danger, all the alternatives for its protection had to be considered before a decision could be made about its future. Alternatives to moving the Cross inside included covering it with a roofed structure, or encasing it in a large glass shelter. Neither of these options would eliminate the organic growth, fractures and infestations affecting the monument. Experience has also shown that a closed glass box can trap humidity and condensation, creating an unnatural climate around stone surfaces, which can lead to further conservation problems. It was therefore suggested that the High Cross should be moved a short distance to the neighbouring Down County Museum, where it could be preserved under cover and fully interpreted for visitors. If moved, it was clear that the production of a high quality replica would be required, to replace the original in its last location, where it had stood for 116 years. The Department of the Environment was prepared to allow the move of the Cross and to fund the creation of such a replica.

In order to the High Cross, the Museum had to find major funding for such a conservation project. Fortunately, Downpatrick has close historical connections with St Patrick’s mission and legacy. The traditional date of St Patrick’s arrival in nearby Saul is 432 AD, when he set about converting the people of Magh Inis, the ‘island plain’, now known as . Already in the late 7th century, a monk of Armagh named Muirchù claimed that St Patrick had been buried on the Hill of Down. The Norman knight John de Courcy and his bishop Malachy claimed to have discovered St Patrick’s bones in the graveyard of Down Abbey (now Down Cathedral) in 1185, along with the relics of St Columba and St Brigid (fig. 5). His relics were solemnly enshrined and translated to the Abbey in 1202. A medieval silver-gilt arm reliquary and a 17th-century silver shrine of his jaw still survive today. The Jaw Shrine is on display in the new Museum extension, generously placed on loan by the Diocese of Down and Connor. In 1900 a large granite slab was placed at the traditional site of St Patrick’s Grave in the graveyard of Down Cathedral (fig. 6)

As a result of these historical connections with St Patrick, Downpatrick has been recognised as a key location on the Northern Ireland Tourist Board’s St Patrick Trail. The preservation and interpretation of one of Ireland’s iconic High Crosses, at the location in Ireland most closely linked to St Patrick’s mission, was therefore seen as a considerable tourism opportunity. Down District Council therefore put forward the project to move the Cross to the Museum as a flagship scheme in the East Border Region’s Tourism Development Plan, to be funded by the INTERREG IVA Cross Border Programme supported by the Special European Union’s Programme Body to the sum of £500,000. In this way, key conservation and tourism objectives could both be met through the Museum’s Downpatrick High Cross Extension Project.

Down County Museum developed exciting designs for a 12m x 18m two-storey extension to the Museum in its rear garden area, which would also include a new tearoom and galleries dedicated to the farming and maritime history of County Down, and the history of the gaol in which the Museum was located (fig. 7). Planning permission was secured on this basis, and an archaeological excavation was carried out on the site. The way was now clear to progress the key aspects of the project – the moving of the High Cross in December 2013, the creation and installation of a replica Cross in April 2014, and the and fit-out of a new home for the original Cross at the Museum, between July 2014 and June 2015.

The High Cross was successfully removed and conserved at the Museum by Cliveden Conservation between December 2013 and February 2014. Meanwhile, the production of the replica High Cross was carried out by stone-carvers S McConnell and Sons of Kilkeel. The G2 fine-grained Inner Mourne granite blocks for the cross-shaft and cross-head were sourced from the only quarry now supplying Mourne granite, on Thomas’ Mountain above Newcastle, in December 2013, and were cut to shape by saws prior to automated carving of each surface using a CNC (computerised numerical control) machine. The replica Cross was carved to within a millimetre accuracy using a digital model created by the Artec Studio software. A time-lapse film of the drilling was made to assist understanding of this process in the final exhibition (see ‘Saving the Downpatrick High Cross’ film on Youtube). The objective was to recreate the profile of the High Cross as it had been familiar to local people and visitors for over a century, rather than to change its appearance.

When the sections of the Cross had been finished by careful hand-carving, to remove signs of machining, they were ready for reconstruction at the east end of Down Cathedral. The replica High Cross was put up on 16th April 2014, just before Easter, using steel rods to connect the sections together (fig. 8). The only difference in visual impact is the brighter surface of the freshly-quarried and newly-carved fine-grained G2 granite in comparison with the duller more weathered appearance of the original, carved from coarse-grained G2 granite. However, we now have an idea of how the High Cross may have appeared when newly-carved in about 900 AD. It would not have been necessary to paint the original Cross, as some have suggested, as it is likely that the sparkling effect of the quartz in the granite, especially in direct sunlight, was intentional. The High Cross could in effect have been a reminder of the gem-covered cross installed at Golgotha, Jerusalem, by the emperor Theodosius II, in 417 AD – during the lifetime of St Patrick.

Whereas the replica took the form of the 1897 Cross, the aim of the reconstruction of the High Cross in a new exhibition in the Museum extension was to recreate, as far as possible, how the original Cross may have appeared when it was first erected, in about 900 AD. The reconstruction consisted of the original cross-head and shaft and a replica socket stone and capstone, modelled using surviving evidence for guidance.

The original socket stone was referred to as a cube roughly 3 feet (90cm) in height. A large granite block in the Cathedral used as a font since 1931, and formerly used as a water trough in a yard in English Street, conforms to these measurements in plan, but shows signs of having been split laterally at the base using wedges. It is carved from the same type of granite as the original Cross fragments, and is probably the top half of the original socket stone for the Downpatrick High Cross (fig. 9). The symmetrical key pattern on the east side of the font is found at locations around the in the late ninth and early tenth centuries and therefore fits with the dating of the cross-shaft and cross-head of the Downpatrick High Cross. It was therefore decided that a replica socket stone based on the Cathedral font would be made by McConnells of Kilkeel, to hold the original High Cross and reproduce something approaching its original appearance at the foot of English Street, between about 900 and 1729 AD. The font was scanned and a digital model was created in order to produce a socket stone that weighed almost 2 tonnes, but which could still be moved through the narrow doorways of the old gaol.

The damaged rectangular socket hole on the top of the cross-head provided evidence of a lost house-shaped capstone, which was reconstructed to place on top of the Cross. Given the combined weight of the High Cross fragments of almost 3 tonnes, the made sure that a reinforced concrete was included beneath the intended location of the High Cross in its new gallery. The height of the was also crucial to allow for the extra height of the socket stone and capstone, and to allow effective lighting of the monument from above.

Once the production of the new sections of the High Cross had been timetabled, a programme for the reconstruction of the Cross by Cliveden Conservation was set for the week of 20th-24th April 2015. The process of rebuilding the Cross was carefully recorded, and its completion paved the way for the creation of a new exhibition, entitled ‘Raising the Cross in Down’, including a film documenting the project, in the gallery space around the Cross, in order to interpret it and place it in its historical context.

One of the key benefits of moving the High Cross inside was the opportunity to light the relief carvings to good effect and interpret them to the public (fig. 10). Although the interpretation of the worn carvings appeared a difficult task, some biblical scenes on the Cross had been tentatively identified, and the move and study of the Cross presented a challenge to provide a fuller interpretation of this important Scripture Cross, which had been erected in a town with such close associations with St Patrick.

Photographic recording and illustration of the High Cross by staff of the Historic Environment Division of the Department of the Environment assisted greatly in the interpretation of the carvings. Careful study of Irish Scripture crosses and other early medieval artworks provided clues to the identification of scenes and allowed James Patience to create brilliant reconstruction drawings of how the carvings on the west and east sides of the Cross probably appeared in about 900 AD (fig. 11a-b).

Notably the figures at the base were made larger than those in the centre and at the top of the shaft, adding to the viewer’s sense of the height of the monument. On the cross-head, the crucified Christ was carved much larger than the other figures accompanying him, emphasising his central significance. On both sections of the High Cross, the identification of individual scenes has contributed to an overall interpretation of the west and east sides, which both incorporate figure scenes.

Although the lowest scene on the west side of the Cross has been cut down by about 30cm, and the figures have lost their lower bodies, close examination reveals the head and shoulders of a figure on the left holding out a child to another figure on the right. The child has its knees bent up in front, so that its feet sit on the shoulder of the right-hand figure, who appears to have veiled hands held out towards the child. By analogy with other early medieval scenes of this type, such as an illumination in the early ninth-century Corbie Psalter (f. 137), this image appears to show the presentation of Christ by the Virgin to Simeon in the Temple, who recognises him as the Saviour (Luke 2: 22-39).

Above this image from Christ’s Nativity, the two central carvings on the cross-shaft appear to show scenes from Christ’s Passion. The second scene from the base shows three figures, all 30cm tall, with the heads of a further three figures above or behind them, giving the impression of a crowd scene. Although worn, the proximity of the two figures on the left and in the centre of this crowd, and the disembodied heads of the figures behind them, suggest a comparison with the ivory carving of the Kiss of Judas at the Arrest of Christ on the ninth-century Carolingian Cranenburg Situla, a vessel for holy water, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (Matt. 26:47). The three worn figures above this scene, again 30cm tall, are reminiscent of the carving below the cross-head Crucifixion on the contemporary Arboe High Cross, depicting two Roman soldiers taking away a purple cloak and mocking Christ with the words ‘Ecce Rex Judaeorum’ (Matt. 27: 27-31).

The uppermost scene is also worn, but appears to show two seated figures with large heads. The gaps between the legs of their chairs are visible beneath them. They appear to hold something round between them and a central protrusion appears above their heads. All these features suggest a very worn depiction of the two desert saints, Antony and Paul, meeting in St Paul’s cave shortly before his death in about 346 AD. According to Jerome’s ‘Life of St Paul’, the two hermits broke a loaf of bread between them, that was delivered to them by a raven from above. This image is frequently found near the Crucifixion on Irish High Crosses, as the two saints were highly regarded by Irish monks as the fathers of monasticism, and their breaking of bread was seen as a symbol of the Eucharist.

Taking all these interpretations together it is possible to see the west face of the Downpatrick High Cross as representing the theme of the ‘Recognition of Christ’, first by Simeon in the Temple, later by Judas and the Roman soldiers in a way that denied His real identity, and symbolically by the first hermits Antony and Paul, who came after Christ and recognised Him in the Eucharist, as did the Irish patrons of the Cross themselves. This theme extends to the Crucifixion scene on the cross-head, as in early legend the blind spear-bearer, Longinus, here to the lower right of Christ, was able to see and recognise Christ when blood flowed from the wounded Christ into his eyes. Similarly, the Good Thief, depicted on the left arm of the cross-head, is said to have recognised Christ and gone to Heaven, in contrast to the Bad Thief on the right.

A similar overriding theme appears to be detectable on the east face of the Cross. Although their bodies are lost, the heads of Adam and Eve have been identified at the base beneath the Tree of Knowledge, and a good case has been made for the three figures above to represent Cain, on the right, about to strike Abel in the centre, with God the Father witnessing the first murder in human history on the left. These two scenes suggest the theme of Original Sin frequently found at the bases of Irish High Crosses. A rider on an ass facing left above these carvings could be seen as problematic, unless we see here a New Testament image: the figure of Christ entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. The presence of a Last Judgement scene on the east side of the cross-head is suggested by figures processing to the right, both sides of a very worn central figure of Christ the Judge. The saved are depicted on the left approaching Christ, while the damned lead off on the right, destined for Hell. Although the scene, possibly depicting rows of heads, at the top of the cross-shaft is again very worn, it is possible that this represents the Second Coming of Christ, by analogy with a similar scene at the top of the east side of the shaft of the Arboe High Cross. If this is the case, we could interpret this side of the High Cross as presenting the Redemption offered by Christ, that is the chance for every Christian to enter the Heavenly Jerusalem with Christ, to reject the Original Sin of Adam and Eve, and to be judged as one of the saved by Christ at the end of time. The story is a momentous one that encompasses the history of the World, according to the Bible, from the Creation to the Last Judgement.

Although the south side of the Cross has little ornament surviving, the north side exhibits a complex pattern, which appears to be formed from two strands, and could represent snakes. This design has been used to ornament a series of display panels in the ‘Raising the Cross in Down’ exhibition, which aims to tell the story of the Downpatrick High Cross in parallel with the story of St Patrick’s mission and legacy in the local area. The display includes a range of other early medieval stone crosses and artefacts, photographs of local Early Christian sites, finds from past excavations on the Hill of Down, and reconstruction paintings of the medieval landscape, still largely visible from the Museum (fig. 12). An interpretation of the missing lower section of the east side of the Cross, depicting Adam and Eve under the Tree of Knowledge, has been recreated in granite by stonecarver, Claire Sampson (fig. 13), and a tactile relief carving in granite has been produced by McConnells of the Crucifixion on the cross-head, for the benefit of visually- impaired visitors. The Museum extension, and the ‘Raising the Cross in Down’ exhibition, were both opened on 15th September 2015, and are free to visit during opening times of the Museum. Together with the traditional site of St Patrick’s Grave, Down Cathedral and the St Patrick Centre in the town, it is now possible to appreciate the importance of St Patrick’s legacy in Downpatrick, and view the 1100-year-old High Cross in all its glory once again.

The provision of an information plaque next to the replica High Cross outside the Cathedral has been the final touch, to direct visitors to the Museum to see the original High Cross if they wish. Time will tell whether the move, and the provision of a replica Cross, has balanced the wishes of the public with the conservation needs of the monument, to provide an acceptable solution in this particular case. The Final Judgement on this project may well determine whether further Irish High Crosses will be moved inside suitable accessible venues, close at hand, and be preserved and interpreted for future generations to appreciate.

Figures

Fig. 1 The Downpatrick High Cross before being moved, in 2013 (Photo: Tony Corey, DOENI).

Fig. 2 The original location of the Downpatrick High Cross, as it may have appeared in about 1500 AD (Drawing: Steve Murphy).

Fig. 3 Slieve Donard, Ulster’s highest mountain, the source of G2 Mourne granite (Photo: Sam Moore).

Fig. 4 The Downpatrick High Cross after reconstruction outside the east end of Down Cathedral in 1897.

Fig. 5 Down Cathedral on the Hill of Down (ancient Dun Lethglaise) pictured today.

Fig. 6 The granite slab which has marked the traditional site of St Patrick’s Grave since 1900.

Fig. 7 The Museum extension for the High Cross under construction in late 2014 (Photo: Liam McCormick).

Fig. 8 The replica High Cross being installed on 16th April 2014.

Fig. 9 This font in Down Cathedral is probably part of the original socket stone for the High Cross, dating to about 900 AD (Photo: Bryan Rutledge).

Fig. 10 The Downpatrick High Cross in the newly-completed ‘Raising the Cross in Down’ gallery at Down County Museum, in September 2015 (Photo: Peadar Curran).

Fig. 11a-b The west (left) and east (right) sides of the High Cross, as they may originally have appeared in about 900 AD (Drawings: James Patience, DOENI).

Fig. 12 The panorama of the historic landscape visible from the new Museum extension, as it may have appeared in 1200 AD. From left to right: Down Abbey (now Down Cathedral), the River Quoile, Inch Abbey and the Mound of Down fort (Painting: Philip Armstrong).

Fig. 13 The reconstruction in Mourne granite of the Adam and Eve panel, which once decorated the base of the east side of the High Cross (Carving: Claire Sampson).