In celebration of St. Patrick’s Day 2012, I posted
a short piece on this blog about how the very beautiful gravestone of the Saint
in the grounds of Downpatrick Cathedral is a recent fabrication, and not an
ancient monument. The person behind this apparent deception was the rather
larger than life character Francis Joseph Bigger (1863-1926) [see also: here |
here] and you can read about the whole thing in: St. Patrick’s Gravestone: A Bigger fake!
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| Francis Joseph Bigger |
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Schema of how the three cross fragments could have fit together
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In that post I wrote: “During the preparation of
the ‘grave site’ three fragments of a broken cross were recovered. Although
searches were carried out to recover further portions, they were in vain.
Bigger notes that the fragments were placed in the cathedral for safe-keeping,
until such time as more pieces could be located and a reconstruction attempted.”
I’ll admit that a part of me suspected that these pieces would, most likely, be
pretty difficult to find again. I’ve heard more than my fair share of stories
about items brought into churches ‘for safe keeping’, never to be seen or heard
from again. In many ways, this is to be expected – most churches are still
‘living’ buildings and all it takes is one cleric with more interest in the
breathing congregation than the historic buildings they curate for stuff like
this to get moved about and forgotten. In the century and a bit since the
discovery of these three fragments I reckoned that there was more than ample opportunity
for these pieces to go missing. On the other hand, I’d not been inside the
cathedral for many years and couldn’t remember even if there were and historic
bits and pieces on display.
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| Chapple Family excursion to St Patrick's grave 2014 |
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Lowest portion of the recovered cross. Decorated panel with spirals.
A tang, possibly for fitting into a socket, is visible at the top. |
This weekend (14-16 March 2014) I had my mother
come stay with us. We didn’t have any particular plans other than to spend some
time together with her grandchildren, catch up on the gossip from home, share
some good food and some better wine. On Saturday morning the conversation
turned to ‘we really should get the kids out for a run about’ and we started to
talk of destinations, sights to see, and places to visit. In amongst the
various places that got mentioned was Downpatrick, Co. Down. Once my mother
said ‘I’ve never been there … I’d love to go’ that settled it.
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Central portion of cross, decorated with roundel of low-relief-interlace.
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Downpatrick is only about 20 miles from Belfast,
on good roads all the way. Once we negotiated the traffic in the town (and
hoards of the local youth hefting boxes of Coors Light beer about – it appears
to have been on offer) we made our way up to the cathedral. We took the obligatory family photos by the graveside and began a slow meander around the graveyard to inspect and admire the other historic stones. While my children decided
to play ‘rolling down the hill and not bashing into the gravestones’, I noticed
that the cathedral’s front door was open. I just thought it’d be nice if I
found these pieces of the cross languishing quietly in a neglected corner, or
behind a curtain vying for space with stacks of excess chairs. I needn’t have
worried! The three pieces of the high cross are there – directly inside the
west doorway. They’re safe, well, and cared for, and they are presented on a
specially constructed platform for their protection and ease of viewing. Here
they are: not missing, not lost – still waiting for the day when more pieces are
recovered!
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Final pieces of cross, placed by Bigger under the head portion.
Possibly decorated with low relief caving of square knot-work.
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Inside Downpatrick Cathedral. The east window.
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Filled with the joy of all things Patrick, we
decided to venture forth into the adjacent St Patrick’s Visitor Centre. I’ve
never been inside the building, but I do know the site well – in 1998 I worked
on the archaeological excavation that was necessary before the building could
go ahead. I don’t propose to give an in-depth review of the place and the
contents of their displays, but I would like to offer a few notes. In the first
place, the entrance fee was remarkably reasonable - £12 for two adults, two
children, and one senior citizen … admittedly, we didn’t avail ourselves of the
option to use the headsets – two excited young boys are enough fun to look
after without adding further impediments! The layout of the displays are
stunning, though provoking, and present a well-rounded portrait of both Patrick
the man and the mythology that has grown up around him. The tour ends in an
auditorium with the ubiquitous audio-visual presentation. Before you go ‘oh,
not another of these’, let me assure you that this one is different! It’s a
180° screen that includes a simulated helicopter ride over the chief
Patrick-related sites in Ireland (Downpatrick, Saul, Croagh Patrick, Slemish
etc.) – it’s absolutely stunning, but if it lasted even one minute longer, and
the helicopter did even one more swoop and dive, I’d have lost my lunch!
Speaking of lunch – they have a lovely café upstairs, that’s incredibly
reasonably priced. We had three cups of excellent coffee and two generous bowls
of ice cream, and the lot came to around £7 – an absolute bargain for this kind
of attraction. My only regret about the place is that there was no display
featuring the archaeology of the site … but then again (to the best of my
knowledge) it has never been published – such a shame!
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| The site in 1998 |
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| Bronze tweezers with blue glass decoration from the excavation of the Visitor Centre site |
All in all, my advice to those interested in Patrick
and his history – from both near and far – is to come to Downpatrick and see
the sights for yourselves. They’re beautiful, interesting places, set in
gorgeous countryside. What’s not to like?
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| Inside the St Patrick's Visitor Centre |
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| Inside the exhibition hall, linking Ireland's prehistoric and christian heritages. |
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| Unfortunately, this s the closest we're getting to the Turoe Stone for the foreseeable future. |
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Reproduction of what a High Cross may have originally looked like
... in all its garish glory! |
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| St Patrick as a bridge of literacy between pagan past and christian present |
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| Tonsured monks tell the Patrick story. |
Wishing all readers a very happy St Patrick's Day & hoping that you'll all come to Northern Ireland and visit the Saint in person at Downpatrick!
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