Waterstown High Cross, Carlow

 Waterstown High Cross

There's a wonderfully quiet and secluded Hillock at Waterstown in Carlow which is a delight to visit. Although actually right beside a small road if feels like taking a step back in time.

 

It's hard to explain but I found it very atmospheric, almost ephemeral as if it would soon vanish in the occasional mists.

On this innocuous hilly mound are to be found two beautiful Crosses. 

One an imperforate/solid wheeled High Cross and the other a later medieval Cross with damaged arms and a crucifixion scene carved on Limestone in mid relief.

The entrance to the Crosses is marked by two small granite posts in a roadside hedge. 

I always seem to find particular enjoyment in visiting a site where there is no carpark, Visitor Centre or signage. Places like this exude a unique charm and aura of their own.

They are often quite peaceful and tranquil while appearing like the title of a Tom Hardy book "far from the madding crowd". 

It seems they provide moments of sanctuary or respite however fleeting from modernity and the hustle and bustle of every day modern life.

There are other antiquities located both here and nearby which I didn't realise at the time of my visit.

 They include Saint Patrick's Well across a field, an Ogham Stone a few fields away (is a field even a recognised unit of measure) a holed stone on the hillock itself somewhere which I never saw (and which Irish Stones describes as a broken cut marked Bullaun Stone) and the base of a Cross literally 100 meters away on the roadside junction which is used as a Shrine and which I also completely missed.

The roadside Cross base is most likely the original base of the Cross on the hillock at Waterstown itself.

Interestingly enough OSI 1800's historic mapping shows the nearby junction where the Cross Base is used as a Shrine as Cloghaphuill which can be interpreted as "the holed stone".

 It also shows a Church and Graveyard now disappeared which were once located here by the Hillock.

This somewhat esoteric and remote site  was apparently at some stage in the not too distant past a reasonably well frequented ecclesiastical settlement of local importance.

It was somewhat overcast with unusual lighting conditions under the thickets of wild brambles, nettles and shrubbery. 

My efforts at photography reflect my less than perfect skills rather than expressing the beauty of the location itself as I had intended.

Do take the time to visit Waterstown if you happen to ever be in the area and keep the wheels turning.

Coordinates here :

52°53'18.8"N 6°40'47.1"W

52.888545 - 6.679760

Library Ireland/S. Lewis/Topographical Dictionary Of Irl/Rathvilly

And just a short mention to say that if you throw a stone hard enough from here either North or North-West it will land in Wicklow. You are right on the Wicklow/Carlow border at Waterstown.

Below are just a few streestscape photographs from nearby Rathvilly.