Monday 3 August 2020

Ahenny High Cross, Kilkenny

Ahenny High Crosses

In the small rural village of Ahenny in Tipperary are not one, but two beautiful High Crosses.

Ahenny lies in Tipperary but is also quite close to the Kilkenny Border.

The Ahenny High Crosses are of a type belonging to a class of High Cross called the

"Ossory group."

These are found chiefly throughout Kilkenny and Tipperary in parts of what was once the "Kingdom of Ossory."

The site at Ahenny is called Kilclispeen and there is a plaque inserted into the entrance which reads

" Kilclispeen Churchyard 1843."

It's believed the Ahenny High Crosses date from around the 8th Century and that originally a Monastery was located here.

There is occasional mention of a Saint Crispen asociated with Ahenny but there are no records of such a figure to be found nor any trace of an early Monastery.

There is also the base socket of a third High Cross here at Ahenny so it was obviously a very important early ecclesiastical site.

The wonder of places like Ahenny is that today such locations seem remote and sparsely inhabited yet in their heyday they must have had large numbers of Monks living on site with large numbers of people living nearby and in close proximity.

Early monasteries were small centres of industry engaged in farming both livestock and tillage, brewing, writing, milling, and possibly carving and metalworking.

I'm not an archaeologist but there are mention of several monasteries where the Monks numbered in their thousands. To maintain such large settlements would have required considerable self sustaining resources and local trade.

The Ahenny High Crosses are very richly decorated and the carvings have survived over 1200 years of Irish weathering.

Covered in spirals, knotwork and pictorial representations they are a beautiful monument to the skill of the craftworkers who carved them all those years ago.

Some of the Caps on Crosses of the "Ossory group" are thought to represent a Mitre, a type of hat worn by Bishops.

With Waterford, Kilkenny and Tipperary so close by as well it makes for a wonderful place to visit and is a very scenic area, well worth visiting at any time of year.