Celtic cross
A cross with a ring around the point where the arms meet. It began as the ringed stone high cross of early medieval Scotland and Ireland, and since the 19th century has been a favourite form for gravestones.
Meaning
The early ringed crosses are high crosses: tall, free-standing stone crosses carved with interlace and scenes from the Bible, such as Daniel in the lions’ den or, probably, David killing the lion. Historic Environment Scotland describes the Kildalton Cross on Islay as a tool to help priests preach the gospel.
Origin and history
Historic Environment Scotland traces the ringed high cross to the monastery of Iona. The high crosses of the late 8th century were the first free-standing stone crosses in Britain and Ireland, and the Kildalton Cross belongs to them. Its ring is carved from the same stone as the cross, while the ring of St John’s Cross on Iona was added later, perhaps after the cross fell; it has been argued that Kildalton was the first cross made with a pierced ring from the start, using what was learned from that repair. In Ireland, the two 8th-century high crosses at Ahenny in County Tipperary replaced earlier crosses of wood.
Its 19th-century revival
After a gap of almost 700 years, high-cross carving came back in 19th-century Ireland, this time for gravestones. Michael Brennan, writing in the Old Kilkenny Review, ties it to the revival in Celtic art that followed the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829; the building of Celtic crosses accelerated through the 1860s and 1870s and peaked in size and complexity in the 1880s and 1890s. In Scotland the Scottish Archaeological Research Framework records Celtic Revival gravemarkers by designers including Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and Celtic cross war memorials from 1861, when Robert Rowand Anderson designed one for the 78th Highlanders at Edinburgh Castle.
See also
Chi-Rho, Skull and crossbones, Latin cross, Orthodox cross, Jerusalem cross, Anchor.
Sources
- Statement of Significance: Kildalton Cross, Historic Environment Scotland, Sections 1.1, 1.2 and 2
- Kildalton Cross: History, Historic Environment Scotland
- Ahenny High Crosses, Heritage Ireland (Office of Public Works)
- Moone High Cross, Heritage Ireland (Office of Public Works)
- An Examination of the Modern Celtic Cross, Old Kilkenny Review (Kilkenny Archaeological Society), Michael Brennan, 2001, p. 36
- Case Study 15: Celtic Revival gravemarkers in Scotland, Scottish Archaeological Research Framework (ScARF)
Last reviewed September 24, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research