Carrowmore South Cross

Carrowmore ecclesiastical complex has been identified with Both Chonais an early monastic site (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 30). The site consists of a series of monuments (DG011-049----/049010-) divided by a modern road, but obviously it originally formed part of a larger unit. On the W side of the road there is a rectangular enclosure of a burial ground (DG011-049001-). Near the SW corner of the enclosure two jamb-stones 1.5m apart, and at right-angles to the line of the wall, probably indicate an entrance. Just beyond the N side of this wall is a flat-topped boulder (DG011-049003-) which may be the base of a high cross. Inside the dividing wall is a possible cross-slab (DG011-049004-) partially buried in the ground. Also close to the S end is a tall plain high cross (DG011-049005-). E of the road is a second high cross (DG011-049006-) standing 2.8m high and 1.3m wide at the arms. At the top of this cross is a very indistinct trace of a standing figure flanked by two angel-like figures. This cross often referred to as the South Cross was described by Harbison (1992, 33) as following: 'A ringless cross, 2.85m high and measuring 1.35m across the arms, stands in a field adjacent to the National School. The shaft is 77cm wide and 20cm thick. The east face is plain. WEST FACE MAJESTAS DOMINI - (Rowan-an angel), Cut out in low false relief on the upper part of the west face is a figure of Christ, clothed in a cut-away garment and with his feet in profile. He is flanked on each side by an angel in profile.'

There is a small cairn (DG011-049007-) possibly a penitential cairn of stones about the base of the cross. This cairn is marked on the 1903 ed. OS 6-inch map (Lacy et. al. 1983, 248). 18m to the S there is an earth-fast cross-inscribed boulder (DG011-049008-). To the NE against a field and townland boundary there was a holy well (DG012-021---) which has been closed up (Ó Muirgheasa, No. 94). In 2012 the Bernician Studies Group carried out a magnetometer survey in the fields surrounding the high crosses (DG011-049005-/006-) at Carrowmore which revealed the sub-surface remains of a bi-vallate early Christian ecclesiastical enclosure (DG011-049----) (O'Brien and Adams 2014, 4). The magnetometer survey shows that the South Cross stands outside the outer enclosing element of the ecclesiastical enclosure.