Tuesday, 13 October 2026

The Wayside Crosses of South and East Meath

The Wayside Crosses of Southeast Meath

There are several varieties of medieval Christian Crosses often found or located by the side of Ireland's smaller roads and byways.

Some are "Pilgrim Crosses" marking routes to places of pilgrimage.

Others are "Market Crosses" marking where the town or village Market was and yet more again are a generalised grouping known as "Pillar" Crosses.

Penultimate on this list are Churchyard Crosses. Often quite ancient and difficult to date they are usually found as per their designation, in old overgrown Churchyards

Finally, other Crosses

(and the subject of this post)

are known as "Wayside" or Memorial style Crosses, usually dating from the middle to late medieval period.

These are the specific type of historic Christian Cross that this post deals with today.

Sometimes all the aforementioned types are labelled together as Wayside Crosses as they were and are, all predominantly found by the "way".

The Way in this case being wayside, roadside or trail and boreen side.

All the Crosses referenced in this post are considered true "Wayside" memorial Crosses and there are an unusually large amount of them scattered throughout the County of Meath.

Navan and District Historical Society lay claim that there are twenty-two Wayside Crosses in Meath.

The carved fonts on the various Crosses are of different styles and many of the Scripts used for their dedications are very intricate and stylistic. Quite beautiful to behold in their own right they are often carved in Bas, High or False relief.

The inscriptions carved upon them are chiefly dedicated to deceased husbands or wives from their surviving spouses but occasionally other family members are included on them too.

These Crosses would have been the preserve of the wealthy land owning classes, the Barons, Earls and Lords of specific areas.

They were in a sense, a posthumous Roll of honour to the "greatness" of the deceased and placed prominently by a busy "Wayside" so that all who passed would see them and be reminded of the magnificence and munificence of the man or woman to whom they were dedicated to.

The equivalent version of Wayside Crosses today is the naming of bridges, roads, hospital wards or University buildings after the "good and great".

Personally I find the ancient Crosses more beautiful, peaceful and thought provoking than their modern day architectural equivalents.

At a lot of the Crosses and locations mentioned in this Post there are a multitude of historic antiquities nearby such as the ancient Church and Holy Well at Kilskyre. It is therefore well worth taking the time and also quite rewarding to explore the localities a little further.

There is also no implied right of way or access guaranteed to any specific location referenced in the Post.

Rather it is the duty of any individual or group seeking access to what appears private property to seek the permission of the relevant landowner before visiting the site.

Many of the Crosses appear to have multiple names or are misnamed depending on the source cited.

While researching them online some were called one or more names or were misidentified as a different Cross altogether.

In order to try to bring some semblance of rationale and logic to the Post I hope to eventually list each of their designations under the SMR

(Sites and Monuments records)

and the locality that the SMR describes them within, which may be a simple townland rather than a town or village.

The Crosses date from the 1400's to one particularly recent Cross which was erected outside of the medieval period and during the Victorian 1800's.

Each of the Crosses has its own interesting back story.

From being simply recovered in strange environments to being dug up and retrieved from a grave each Cross has a long and unique history.

To elucidate further on some of the weird and wonderful backstories would necessitate an entry as long as War and Peace and I'm no Leo Tolstoy as you can probably tell.

Keep the wheels turning.......

1: Athcarne Wayside Cross

(AKA ; Gaulstown Cross)

2: Balrath Wayside Cross

3: Duleek Wayside cross

4: Wayside Cross, Sarsfieldstown

5: Wayside Cross,

opposite Annsebrooke house

6: Wayside Cross,

Mill Hill Duleek

7: Wayside Cross in a Garden

8: Wayside Cross shaft in another Garden,

Julianstown area.

9: Shallon Wayside Cross

10: Saint Colmcilles Church, Skyrne/Skreen Wayside Cross

Two medieval baptismal fonts now repurposed as Church Stoups inside Saint Colmcilles R.C. Church Skyrne.

11: Carrickdexter/Barronstown Wayside Cross

12: Dunsany Wayside Cross and Bullaun Stone.

Not a Wayside Cross, Navan Market Cross

Solstice Arts Centre.

(Wayside Cross in

Navan Library MIA)

Not listed as a Wayside Cross,

Kileen Castle Church,

Churchyard Cross

13: Killeen Castle Golf Course, Wayside Cross

14: Summerhill Wayside Cross

15 and 16:

Moynalvy Wayside Crosses (2)

17 and 18:

Platin Wayside Crosses (2)

Lismullin -

No Wayside Cross present

(MIA)

Tara - 19: Possible Wayside Cross

(or Standing Stone)

Faded carved Sheela na Gig.

20: Kilskyre/Kilskeire

One local mythological Cross and

one quite late Victorian era Wayside Cross.

21: Seymourstown

Wayside Cross.

Carved Cruxification and

Virgin Mary on opposing sides.

Dunsany Castle - Wayside Cross.

Missing from its plinth

(MIA)

Hill of Skyrne Churchyard Cross and a Gravestone possibly used in days gone by for sharpening Blades, Swords, Knives or agricultural implements, or perhaps swearing an oath where a blade is drawn against a revered object ?