Dromore High Cross

Grid reference: J199533

Geology: Newry granite date: late 9th/early 10th century

amonastery was founded at Dromore on the banks of the river lagan probably early in the sixth century by st. Mocholmóg, otherwise known as Colmán. Coarbs (abbots) are recorded occasionally during the ninth and eleventh centuries, providing evidence of continuity in the monastery’s existence during the Viking period. A man named Riagan, who died in 1101, was described in the Annals of Ulster as bishop of Dromore, yet there is no mention of official recognition of Dromore – or Iveagh, uí echach – as the centre of a diocese until the very end of the century, in 1197, after it had, perhaps, been instituted as a diocese at a synod in Dublin five years earlier. being one of the poorest of Ireland’s dioceses during the later Middle Ages, it was not treated with the respect it deserved. Its bishops were often absentees (some of them english), one even hailing from as far away as brittany. From even farther afield came a Greek-born bishop, nicholas braua, who, however, did probably reside in the diocese from 1483 to 1499. Art Magennis, a scion of one of the region’s ruling families, accepted royal supremacy in 1550 and, since the seventeenth century, the bishops consecrated for the Dromore Church.

diocese have been Protestant – the diocese itself having been merged with Down in 1842. of the medieval Cathedral nothing survives, and the earliest parts of the present structure are the south and west walls of the nave, which date from the 1660s, during the time when Jeremy taylor administered the diocese as bishop of Down. He is buried in the Cathedral and, though disputacious on occasions, was known as a proponent of religious toleration. Inside the building is displayed ‘st. Colman’s Pillow’, a stone bearing a cross of early style with forked terminals which was ‘preserved from alienation’ (in lisburn) and returned to its original home in 1919. together with the cross now standing at the edge of the Cathedral grounds, it is the only surviving remnant of the old monastery – the large motte-and-bailey earthwork 400 yards away being a product of early norman occupation shortly before 1200, while the tower house overlooking the Cathedral may be no earlier than the seventeenth century. beside the road adjacent to the lower-lying Cathedral grounds, beside the river lagan, is a tall and once substantial granite cross, consisting now of three fragments which were re-assembled here in 1887. The large base required to steady such a heavy cross has rounded sides, with a roll moulding framing the upper edges, and up and down the corners. The side away from the road is rough at the bottom, suggesting that it was originally below ground level. The fragment of the lower part of the shaft has sides which reduce about an inch in width, a foot above the base – just below the level where the decoration begins – whereas the broad faces are absolutely straight. both sides of the shaft are decorated with rectangular panels of broad interlace divided into two halves by a pair of horizontal mouldings half-way up the sides, with a more marked interior moulding enclosing a recessed rectangular panel of fretwork ornament. The faces of the shaft also appear to have had interlace framing a recessed panel of decoration which is now much worn.

The upper part of the shaft is missing, replaced by a modern section bearing the following inscription in noticeably Irish-style lettering :

The ancient historical cross of Dromore erected and restored after many years of neglect by public subscription to which the board of Public

Dromore High Cross.

works were contributors, under the auspices of the town Commissioners of Dromore, Co. Down A.D. 1887.

The head of the cross has an unpierced and recessed ring, with a large central hemispherical depression, and the underside of the arms and ring are subdivided into three panels, the central one of which bears rather worn interlace. The erosion of the decoration may possibly stem from human wear and tear when the cross-fragments stood – or, more probably, lay – in the Market square for centuries before being re-erected in 1887. It was probably then that damage visible today may have been inflicted – reduction in the size of the north arm and the square holes in both arms, together with the destruction of part of the decoration on the west face of the shaft fragment. The capstone is unashamedly modern.

[Insert map 8 here, showing route between Dromore and Drumbo].

From Dromore, make for the Round Tower at Drumbo.