1997:423 - KELLS: Market Cross of Kells, Cross Street/Market Square, Meath

The Market Cross in Kells was located on the north-east corner of Cross Street adjacent to the Market Square, at an extremely busy junction where traffic from Market Street, Castle Street and John Street converge. The collision of a school bus with the plinth of the cross in December 1996 resulted in a decision being made to remove the cross to the National Monuments Depot in Trim for conservation. Subsequently excavation took place on the site of the cross in March 1997.

The plinth, on which the cross had been re-erected in 1893, consisted of three steps of dressed limestone blocks with a rubble core. Following survey and recording it was removed to the Urban District Council’s Yard in Kells pending a decision on its re-erection.

The separation of the cross and base provided an opportunity to examine the tenon of the cross shaft and the base of the cross. The tenon is 0.51m by 0.34m and 0.32m high. The narrow west side (original south side) of the tenon has a significant chamfer, a result of natural spalling, approximately 0.1m above the base. This reduced the width of the two broad sides of the shaft by 0.13m.

The mortice in the base is 0.53m by 0.42m at the opening and slopes inwards to an approximate depth of 0.25m. A residue of mortar adhering to the sides and the bottom of the mortice means that its precise measurements remain to be determined. The underside of the base was roughly finished but has a small rectangular recess cut into the north side (original west face) of the underside of the stone. This has its long axis east–west (originally north–south) approximately 0.22m from the north face. It is well finished internally and measures 100mm by 30mm with a depth of 70mm. The function of this recess is unclear as it is too small to function as a mortice and too well finished to have occurred when the stone was cut in the quarry, but, set as it is under the or-iginal principal face of the cross, i.e. that with the Crucifixion, it may have held a small relic.

Following removal of the plinth, a yellow gritty mortaring gravel to a depth of c. 0.2m was removed. This was uneven in depth and contained pieces of concrete, stones and partly decayed wedges of timber. This material had clearly been used as a bed for the lower step of the plinth, whose stones were of varying heights. It was laid on a concrete and stone base which was extremely solid and varied in depth between 0.68m and 0.72m. This base was removed to reveal subsoil. A section of the cutting was then dug to a depth of 0.8m to ensure that this was not an introduced or redeposited subsoil. There were no stratified deposits, although a ‘working’ French drain was uncovered in the north baulk below street level during subsequent engineering works.

Archaeological black soils have been noted in John Street at a depth of c. 0.7m below present street level, but there was no trace of this material under the cross or in the sections visible after excavation.

51 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2