The Inneenboy cross (Irish: ''Cros Iníne Baoith'' or "cross of the daughter of Baoth") or the Roughan Hill Tau Cross is a stone

tau cross The tau cross is a T-shaped cross, sometimes with all three ends of the cross expanded. It is called a “tau cross” because it is shaped like the Greek letter tau, which in its upper-case form has the same appearance as Latin letter T. Anothe ...

located in

County Clare County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,817 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It is a

National Monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a spec ...

Location

The cross formerly stood on a large boulder on Roughan Hill, 2 km (1¼ mile) northwest of

Kilnaboy Kilnaboy or Killinaboy () is a village, townland and civil parish in County Clare, Ireland. It is located in the Burren, and as of the 2011 census the area had 347 inhabitants. Civil parish Kilnaboy is a parish in the historic Barony (Ireland ...

; but was later moved several times for safe-keeping, lastly to Clare Heritage & Genealogy Centre in Corofin, where it is now located. A replica has been erected at the original site near the road between Kilnaboy and

Leamaneh Castle Leamaneh Castle is a ruined castle located in the townland of Leamaneh North, parish of Kilnaboy, between the villages of Corofin and Kilfenora at the border of the region known as the Burren in County Clare, Ireland. It consists of a 15th-cen ...

History and theories

The cross was likely erected in the 12th century and served as an ecclesiastical boundary marker (''

termonn is an Gaelic (Irish) word meaning 'sanctuary, boundary'. Other spellings include '','' and . It denotes land belonging to Irish early Christian monasteries and churches on which right of sanctuary prevailed. The word is common in many place n ...

''). Reportedly, it was one of three similar structures, but it is the only one whose whereabouts are known today.

takes its name from the Irish ''Cill Iníne Baoith'', "Church of Baoth's daughter"; the cross is therefore the "Cross of Baoth's daughter." Saint Inneenboy was the patron saint of the

Dál gCais The Dalcassians ( ga, Dál gCais ) are a Gaelic Irish clan, generally accepted by contemporary scholarship as being a branch of the Déisi Muman, that became very powerful in Ireland during the 10th century. Their genealogies claimed descent fr ...

. In 1937,

Adolf Mahr Adolf Mahr (7 May 1887 – 27 May 1951) was an Austrian archaeologist, who served as director of the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin in the 1930s, and is credited with advancing the work of the museum substantially. Through his leadership ...

, Keeper of Irish Antiquities and Director of the

National Museum of Ireland The National Museum of Ireland ( ga, Ard-Mhúsaem na hÉireann) is Ireland's leading museum institution, with a strong emphasis on national and some international archaeology, Irish history, Irish art, culture, and natural history. It has thre ...

, published a theory that associated the cross with the

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

double-heads from

Roquepertuse Acropolis Roquepertuse is a historical religious center for the Celts. It is located near the city of Velaux, north of Marseille and west of Aix-en-Provence, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur région of southern France. Roquepertuse had no domi ...

, France. In 1940, Joseph Raftery supported this theory, counting the Kilnaboy cross in the same category of La Tène sculptures. Etienne Rynne, however, in an article on the Tau Cross in 1967, compared the craft style of the two carved heads with other works nearby – the immediate area offering three other examples of tau-croziers. He thus showed that the cross was in fact likely a boundary mark of the Romanesque period (12th century) and not a pagan idol of the early

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

. The

is also associated with Saint

Anthony the Great Anthony the Great ( grc-gre, Ἀντώνιος ''Antṓnios''; ar, القديس أنطونيوس الكبير; la, Antonius; ; c. 12 January 251 – 17 January 356), was a Christian monk from Egypt, revered since his death as a saint. He is d ...

, one of the founders of Christian

monasticism Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic life plays an important role ...

. There are only eight other similar crosses in Ireland. Tau crosses feature at several other locations in

The Burren The Burren (; ) is a karst/glaciokarst landscape centred in County Clare, on the west coast of Ireland.
Burren ...

, including a carving on the Doorty Cross in

Kilfenora Kilfenora ( ga, Cill Fhionnúrach , meaning 'Church of the Fertile Hillside' or 'Church of the White Brow') is a village and a civil parish in County Clare, Ireland. It is situated south of the karst limestone region known as the Burren. Si ...

. The Kilnaboy cross has been associated in folklore with a reconciliation between the O'Brien and O'Quin families after a feud, but that has been dismissed by antiquarians.

Description

Tau Cross, Roughan Hill, Corofin, County Clare, Ireland

The cross is carved from a single block of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

and on the top of each arm are two heads with two joined hands between them.

References

{{Reflist National Monuments in County Clare High crosses in the Republic of Ireland