Archaeology 360: Carrowmore High Crosses, Co. Donegal

Look around this shot and you're standing at Carrowmore, near Gleneely on the Inishowen peninsula not far from Culdaff, where two lone crosses are about all that's left standing of Both Chonais - a monastery whose buildings vanished centuries ago, though a geophysical survey still traced a double-ditched enclosure running beneath the field. Who founded it depends on who you ask: tradition names Conas, husband of Dareaca (said to be a sister of St Patrick), while at least one academic survey credits St Comhgall instead - take your pick. Start with the Eastern Cross: its south-west face carries the site's one real piece of figure-carving, a Majestas Domini showing Christ facing forward with a small angel whispering at each shoulder (barely visible today, though 1940s photographs caught it more clearly), dated anywhere from the 9th to the 10th century depending on the source; swing round to its north-east face and there's nothing there at all, just plain weathered stone. The Western Cross, in the field across the road is noticeably taller at around 3.3 metres, never had any carving to lose - short-armed and bare on both its north-east and south-west faces, and reckoned by some to be the older and cruder of the two, possibly going back as far as the 7th century. Save your last look for that blank western face: the oldest thing standing in the field, and the one with nothing left to tell you.


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