Kilbroney High Cross

Grid reference: J188195

Geology: G5(?) Outer Mourne granite; socket stone G4 Outer Mourne granite

dates: 9th century

The place-name Kilbroney means the church of brónach, ‘a virgin from Glenn sechis’ but, other than her feast day, April 2nd, we know nothing further about her - when she lived or even where Glenn sechis was. nevertheless, she was obviously much revered in the early Middle Ages because there is a cast bronze bell of around the ninth century which was found in the graveyard in the eighteenth century and is now proudly displayed in the Roman Catholic church farther down the valley in the town of Rostrevor. what was described as the saint’s crozier referred to in a fifteenth-century source, has long disappeared without trace.

The ringless Kilbroney Cross.

The site of the cross dominates the area of a holy well dedicated, curiously, not to the local, but to the national saint, brigit. The largest monument in the graveyard is a ruined late medieval church which has been restored by the northern Ireland environment Agency. Thirty-six feet to the south of it, the cross stands in a large square base-stone, the date of which is so uncertain that it is not known whether it was made originally for the cross.

The cross itself is 7 feet 7 inches tall, three feet one inch across the arms and only eight inches thick. together with one at Clonlea, it is unusual in having the armpits of the western side recessed to a depth of only just over two inches deep, rather than penetrating the full depth of the cross. The west face is flat, in contrast to the east face which has a rounded surface which bears no ornament. As if to make up for that, the whole of the west face is ornamented with mostly square panels separated on the shaft by horizontal bars, the whole being enclosed within a roll moulding which frames the entire outline of the cross.

The lowest panel on the shaft (a quarter of which is invisible below the level of the base) appears to have t-shaped designs carved in relief, rather similar to those found on the arms. The second and fourth panels from the bottom are too worn to be able to make out anything on them; the third has a fretwork design based on a st. Andrew’s cross, while the fifth bears a meander pattern – like angular spirals emanating from a centre with each element curling itself up at its end. Above this panel is a triangle with a central upright stem separating two smaller triangles (bird-shapes?) which flank the lower armpits. The meander pattern at the centre of the cross-head is similar to that at the top of the shaft – and to that above it on the topmost limb of the cross. both arms carry t-shapes – one upright, the other upside down – with their stems almost meeting at the centre.

The Kilbroney cross is almost certainly a copy in stone of a wooden cross, and some of the ornament on the west face may well have been copied from square wood-carved panels. but the t-shapes on the arms and on the panel at the bottom of the shaft are much more likely to have been modelled on metalwork with cloisonné enamel inlays, which could well argue for a ninth-century date for the cross, rather than the more usually proffered eighth-century suggestion. only a few yards west of the cross is a stone carved in the stylised shape

of a human figure, with a simply delineated head, and the body and arms decorated with the outline of a cross. suggestions for the date of this stone range widely from the seventh to the eighteenth century! Close by is the beautifully-carved Fegan headstone of 1831, a wonderful example of sculpture in slate.

The Kilbroney Face-cross

At nearby Clonlea (nGR J188222), an inaccessible site not recommended for visiting, are three crosses recalling the form of the Kilbroney Cross. nothing is known of the history of this small graveyard in Greenan townland; off the beaten track, it contains three crosses in a row running north-south.

The south cross, identified by Ian Meighan as of Mourne granite, appears to be a modern copy of the shape of the Kilbroney cross. bearing the letters P MC M and the date 1852, the socket stone in which it stands must be almost a thousand years older. It is probably a rough contemporary of the Kilbroney cross with which it shares panels of meander decoration parallel to the long side of the cross on the upper surface of the base, while spirals emanate from the corner of the mortise-hole. The sides of the base are fairly straight, whereas the narrower ones are more rounded.

The decorated socket stone of the south cross at Clonlea.

The central cross, of newry granite, may also be modern, but the northernmost of the three, which also sits in an ancient but undecorated and stepped base, must be old because its east face is divided into a number of roughly square panels which, seen in the right light, can be seen to bear figure sculpture which is too tantalisingly worn to be identifiable. The centre of the cross may possibly have borne a ringed cross in relief, the foot of which may be rounded.

The three Clonlea crosses.

From Kilbroney now head to newry. This is a good opportunity to visit newry and Mourne Museum in bagenal’s Castle, where local early Christian and medieval finds, including a cross-slab, are on display amongst many other fascinating displays. The Museum occupies part of the site of a medieval Cistercian monastery.

From Newry, head north towards Donaghmore. [Insert map 6 here, showing route from Kilbroney to Donaghmore, including newry].