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Early Christian graves were usually marked by stones nowise differing from the pagan pillar-stone, except that in some instances they were sculptured with a cross. These were of the simplest form and rudely cut, and consisted of an elementary line cross, or one slightly developed and within a circle. Plain undressed slabs or rude stones were generally adopted in the first instance, the only use of the cutter’s instrument being on the incised work. Many of the stones of this class are found in old Christian graveyards, or within the area of early monastic establishments.

The richest collection of them is to be seen at Clonmacnoise, numbering 188; and inscribed slabs to the number of 74 have been lost from this one spot alone. Clonmacnoise was founded by St. Kieran in the middle of the sixth century; and, in time, it was, as Ware says, ‘above all others famous for the sepulchres of nobility and bishops.’ Petrie, in his work on Christian Inscriptions, shows, by means of the recorded names and ‘Annals,’ that for over 600 years, beginning with 628 A.D., this class of monument was used for sepulchral purposes. The inscribed crosses are of great variety​—​Celtic, Latin, and Greek​—​many being very chaste with key-end and other patterns. The most typical form of Celtic cross is that formed from the plain Latin type enclosed in a ring that connects the arms, and leaves varied spaces between it and the corners of their intersection.

This style of memorial appears to have been succeeded by a rudely-formed cross, the arms of which are little more than indicated, and which is usually fixed in a socket, cut in a large flat stone. Such crosses rarely exhibit any kind of ornament; but occasionally, even in very rude examples, the upper part of the shaft is hewn into the Celtic form already described, the portions of the stone by which the circle is indicated being frequently perforated or slightly recessed. A fine plain cross of this style may be seen on the road adjoining the graveyard of Tully, Co. Dublin; and there is an early-decorated example near the church of Finglas, in the same county.

In the process of development of Christian art and architecture we find an advance in the work on the memorials of the dead. The design becomes more complicated, ornamentation more profuse; and there is a change to the minuscule form of the alphabet in the inscriptions. From the rude pillar-stone, marked with the symbol of our Faith enclosed within a circle, the emblem of eternity, the finely-proportioned and elaborately-sculptured crosses of a later period were developed. In the latter, the circle, instead of being simply cut upon the face of the stone, is represented by a ring, binding, as it were, the shaft, arms, and upper portion of the cross together. The top of the shaft is usually in the form of a roof with sloping sides, resembling the shrines of the period for holding the relics of saints. The spaces between the binding ring and the intersecting arms are pierced; and these are finely relieved by rounded bands across the corners of intersection, or on the inner surface of the ring. The whole sculpture thus forms the cross, and is in striking contrast to the Scotch type of memorial, which has the cross carved in relief upon an upright slab. The inscribed crosses were sepulchral, and principally used in covering the grave; but the free standing crosses were erected either to the memory of some famous ecclesiastic or king, or dedicatory, as in the case of the SS. Patrick and Columba Cross at Kells, or terminal, marking the bounds of a sanctuary. Of these ‘high’ crosses forty-five still remain, many of which are in a fair state of preservation. The striking feature of these crosses is the ornamental and pictorial work displayed in the carving. As in the manuscript and metal work, and in the general ornamentation of the churches, this is of a most elaborate character. There is a profusion of spiral pattern, Celtic tracery, and zoomorphic design found on these crosses. The whole body of Christian doctrine finds its expression in their sculpture, intended, no doubt, by means of symbolical representation, to be great object-lessons in the way of faith to every beholder. The central idea on the face of the cross is usually the Crucifixion, and on the back the Resurrection, or Christ in Glory; the remaining spaces in the panels and on the sides being filled with various sacred and other subjects. These highly-sculptured crosses appear to have been very generally erected between the tenth and thirteenth centuries; and there are few examples of a later date remaining, if we except a small number bearing inscriptions in Latin or English, which generally belong to the close of the sixteenth or to the seventeenth century, and which can hardly be looked upon as either Irish or ancient.

Crosses at Monasterboice.​—​The beautiful remains of this class at Monasterboice, near Drogheda, are the finest now remaining in Ireland, though nearly equalled by some of the many others scattered over the whole island. In these crosses alone there is evidence sufficient to satisfy the most sceptical of the skill which the Irish had attained, in more of the arts than one, during the earlier ages of the Church. They may be regarded, not only as memorials of the piety and munificence of the founders, but also as the finest works of sculptured art of their period now existing.

Two of the crosses at Monasterboice remain in their ancient position, and are well preserved, though one of them, in particular, bears distinct evidence of a systematic attempt having been made to destroy it. A third has been broken to pieces, the people say by Cromwell; but its head and part of the shaft remaining uninjured, the fragment has been re-set in its ancient socket. The Great Cross, the largest of the two more perfect crosses, measures 27 feet in height, and is composed of three stones. A portion of the base is buried in the soil. The shaft at its junction with the base is 2 feet in breadth, and 1 foot 3 inches in thickness. It is divided upon the western side by fillets into seven compartments, each of which contains two or more figures executed with bold effect, but much worn by the rain and wind of nearly nine centuries. The sculpture of the first compartment, beginning at the base, has been destroyed by those who attempted to throw down the monument. The second contains four figures, of which one, apparently the most important, is presenting a book to another, who receives it with both hands, while a large bird seems resting upon his head. The other figures in this compartment represent females, one of whom holds a child in her arms.

Compartments 3, 4, 5, and 6 contain three figures each, evidently the Apostles; and each figure is represented as holding a book. The seventh division, which runs into the circle forming the head of the cross, is occupied by two figures; and immediately above them is a representation of our Saviour crucified, with the usual figures of a soldier upon each side, one piercing His body with a spear, and the other offering a sponge. To the right and to the left of the figure of our Saviour other sculptures appear. The figures upon the right arm of the cross are represented apparently in the act of adoration. The action of those upon the left is obscure; and, in consequence of the greater exposure of the upper portion of the stone to the weather, the sculpture which it bears is much worn, and almost effaced.

The sides of the shaft are ornamented with figures and scroll-work, placed alternately in compartments, one above the other. Of the circle by which the arms and stem are connected, the external edges are enriched; and as an example, the compartment beneath the left arm is here engraved. The eastern side is also divided into compartments occupied by sculptures, which may refer to Scripture history.

The smaller cross is the finest example of this class of Celtic sculpture now remaining. The figures and ornaments with which its various sides are enriched, appear to have been executed with an unusual degree of care and of artistic skill. It has suffered but little from the effects of time. The sacrilegious hands which attempted the ruin of the others appear to have spared this; and it stands almost as perfect as when, nearly a thousand years ago, this unrivalled work left the sculptor’s hands. An inscription in Irish upon the lower part of the west face of the shaft desires ‘A prayer for Muiredach, by whom was made this cross’; but as Petrie, by whom the inscription has been published, remarks, there were two of the name mentioned in Irish ‘Annals’ as having been connected with Monasterboice​—​one an abbot, who died in the year 844, and the other in the year 924​—​‘so that it must be a matter of some uncertainty to which of these the erection of the cross should be ascribed.’ There is reason, however, to assign it to the latter, ‘as he was a man of greater distinction, and probably wealth, than the former, and therefore more likely to have been the erector of the crosses.’ Its total height is exactly 15 feet, and it is 6 feet in breadth at the arms. The shaft, which at the base measures in breadth 2½ feet, and in thickness 1 foot 9 inches, diminishes slightly in its ascent, and is divided upon its various sides by twisted bands into compartments, each of which contains either sculptured figures or tracery of very intricate design, or animals, probably symbolical.

The figures and other carvings retain much of their original form and beauty of execution. The former are of great interest, as affording an excellent idea of the dress, both ecclesiastical and military, of the Irish during the ninth and tenth centuries. As an example, the two lower compartments upon the west side are here given; in the first are three ecclesiastics holding books, the central one with raised hand in the act of blessing. The lower panel is supposed to represent Christ being led away by armed soldiers. Within the circular head of the cross, upon its eastern face, He is represented sitting in judgment; in His right hand is a cross, indicating His Passion, and in His left a sceptre, signifying His victory over death and the grave. A choir of angels occupy the arm to the right of the figure. Several are represented with musical instruments, among which the ancient Irish harp may be seen; it is small and triangular, and rests upon the knees of David, who is represented sitting; the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, rests upon the harp, inspiring the Psalmist. The space to the left of the Saviour is crowded with figures, several of which are in an attitude of despair. They are the damned; and a fiend armed with a trident is driving them from before the throne. In the compartment immediately beneath is the Archangel Michael, the guardian of souls, weighing in a pair of huge scales a soul, the balance seeming to preponderate in his favour. One who appears to have been weighed, and found wanting, is lying beneath the scales in an attitude of terror. The next compartment beneath represents, apparently, the adoration of the Wise Men. The star above the head of the infant Christ is distinctly marked. The third compartment contains several figures, but what they symbolise is not known. The signification of the sculpture of the next following compartment is also very obscure: a figure seated upon a throne or chair is blowing a horn, and soldiers with conical helmets, armed with short broad-bladed swords, and with small circular shields, appear crowding in. The fifth and lowest division illustrates the Temptation and the Expulsion of Adam and Eve. The head of the cross upon this side is sculptured with a Crucifixion, very similar to that upon the head of the larger cross; but the execution is better. Its northern arm, to the left of the Crucifixion, underneath bears the representation of the Dextera Dei, or Hand Symbol, used in early Christian art to represent the First Person of the Trinity. It is also to be seen on the Cross of Flann, at Clonmacnoise, where it is on the right of the Crucifixion; in both cases it is surrounded by a nimbus. Of the broken cross, a boss placed within its circle with spiral ornamentation is here engraved. It is otherwise plain.

An early monumental stone remains in the cemetery, a few yards to the north of the less ancient church. The inscription is in the Irish language and character, and reads in English, ‘A prayer for Ruarchan.’ A simple flagstone, inscribed with a name, and sculptured with the sacred symbol of Christianity, such as the early Christians were accustomed to place over the grave of an eminent man, forms a striking contrast to the tablets which too often disfigure the walls of our cathedral and parish churches. Many remains of this class lie scattered among the ancient and often-neglected graveyards of Ireland; but they are every day becoming more rare, as the country stone-cutters, by whom they are regarded with but slight veneration, frequently form out of their materials modern tombstones, defacing the ancient inscriptions. A characteristic example of a portion of an inscribed slab is here given; it is from Iniscaltra, an island in Lough Derg, for many centuries a celebrated burial-ground.

In several cemeteries found in connection with the earlier monastic establishments of Ireland, graves frequently occur, formed of flat stones placed edgeways in an oblong figure and covered with large flags, after the pagan fashion. Were it not that in several instances the stones at either end of the enclosure have been sculptured with a cross, they might be supposed to indicate the site of a pagan cemetery, which the early Christians, for obvious reasons, had hallowed by the erection of a cill. The direction of the grave is generally east and west; but in the cemetery adjoining the very early church at Saint John’s Point, in Co. Down, and at Kilnasaggart, the graves are arranged in the form of a circle, to the centre of which the feet of the dead converge.

The cemetery at Kilnasaggart consists, as the plan here shows, of two concentric circles of low flat graves radiating towards the centre, at which stands a small pillar-stone. The outer circle is 55 feet in diameter, and at the north edge is the well-known Pillar-stone. This originally contained an Ogam inscription, which was defaced, probably when converted to Christian uses. It has a number of incised crosses, and an Irish inscription to St. Ternoe.126

A similar mode of interment, which occurs at Town-y-Chapel, near Holyhead, in Wales, is referred to in the Archæological Journal, vol. iii.; and it is worthy of remark that the place where the graves are found appears to have been the scene of a battle, fought about A.D. 450, in which many Irishmen were slain.