Saving the Downpatrick High Cross

Saving the Downpatrick High Cross High Crosses 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 Clonmacnoise, 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 Republic of Ireland, where high crosses at Clonmacnoise and Cashel were carefully moved inside and replaced by high quality replicas, Down County Museum in Downpatrick, County Down, in Northern Ireland, 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 Market Cross, 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 Strangford 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 Strangford Lough – 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 house 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 Lecale. 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 construction and fit-out of a new home for the original Cross at the Museum, between July 2014 and June 2015.

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