Cathedral’s High Cross on the move
On 4 December 2013, Downpatrick’s iconic 1100–year–old High Cross was moved from Down Cathedral to the nearby Down County Museum.
In a 16–month project the intricately patterned Mourne granite cross, carved around AD 900 as a ‘prayer in stone’, will be carefully restored to become the centrepiece of an important new Museum extension soon to be built.
An exact replica of the High Cross, to be made by a Kilkeel stonemason using granite blasted from a local quarry at Thomas Mountain, will eventually replace the original at the entrance to Down Cathedral.
The cross is of historical, cultural and religious significance. Its first location is believed to have been the early medieval monastery on the Hill of Down.
Following the Reformation, the High Cross was taken down and was used as Downpatrick’s market cross. It was damaged in a busy town centre location before being dismantled and its parts dispersed around the town.
In the 1890s, the parts were gathered together by Francis Joseph Bigger and reconstructed outside Down Cathedral, with the help of subscriptions from donors.
The Church of Ireland has given its permission for the long term loan and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency has given consent for the Cross to be moved. It is funding the removal and conservation and the replication of the Cross.
Other key funders are Down District Council, the East Border Region and the European Union’s INTERREG IVA Cross Border Programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body.
See a few photos here.
Pictured below are: (left to right) are the Very Revd Henry Hull, Dean of Down Cathedral, in the background Brian Bentley from Cliveden Conservation who were in charge of the overall removal and Mike King, Curator of Down County Museum.