Ballymacasey Cross | Eileen Moylan

A few weeks ago I wrote about my visit to the National Museum on Kildare Street Dublin. At the time I was trying to find out more about a processional cross that was found near Ballylongford, Co. Kerry. I presumed that once a piece makes it into the musuem it has reached celebrity status and so would have lots written on it’s history.

I couldn’t believe how difficult it was to find out anything about this cross. I have a great book on the treasures of the museum, but it just gives a brief history of when it was made and who commissioned the piece. Apart from that there was nothing, both the library and google let me down.

Ballymacasey Cross, Dated 1479 Co. Kerry

I did find a reference to the cross in ‘The Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland’ but typically I couldn’t get hold of the book except in an archive library in the city. I reckoned I’d need some proof that I was studying the piece to get into their archives. I’m not sure they would see idle curiosity as a good enough reason to let me flick through a 19th century journal!

Thankfully my search didn’t end there. The good people at Harvard University had a copy and they had been kind enough to scan the whole journal and put it up on the American Libraries website for all to see. The journal is a collection of essays by its members on various artifacts and historical documents. It was so interesting to see how archaeology was conducted in Ireland in the 1800’s. The chapter on the cross was written by George J. Hewson. He just happened to be passing through Ballylongford on his was to Ballybunion and spotted the cross which was in the possession of its finder John Jeffcott. In 1871 the cross was found in a number of pieces when Jeffcott was ploughing. Hewson writes that it took him a long time to get back to Ballylongford to properly inspect the cross it being “a very out of the way spot”. Having grown up 8 miles from there, of course I have to disagree, but maybe things were different back then.

It was easy enough to trace the origins of the cross as it had been engraved with the details of the maker and the recipients. It turns out the cross was commissioned by Cornelius O’ Connor and his wife Avlina (or Eileen!) as a gift to the Lislaughtin Friary, Ballylongford in 1479. It might be slight vanity but the search was completely justified when I discovered my name was engraved on the cross.

Ballymacasey cross, Journal Royal Historical & Archaeological Association

The cross which is silver gilt is 67cm in height and considered one of the finest crosses from medieval Ireland. It has the figure of Christ in the centre surrounded by the symbols of the four Evangelists. The symbol at the centre of the cross is missing, leaving just a winged lion, a winged bull and an eagle. The entire cross is decorated with an open work border (the leaf -like trim). It has an amazing amount of intricate detail and it’s hard to believe it has survived so well. The engraving is entwined with images of birds, animals and flowers which would not be typically Irish.

Engraved detail, Journal Royal Historical & Archaeological Association

The funny thing about this cross is that it remained in the home of Mr Jefcott in Ballylongford rather than being handed over to be put on public display. I love the idea of a 2 foot gold ornate cross lying around his house. Where would you put something like that?! In Hewson’s article he writes that “the finder does not appear disposed to consent to part with it to anyone on any terms” It seems Hewson argued the case that although it was well looked after it would be much more secure in the national collection. He believed it would be worthy of a place alongside the Cross of Cong. Which coincidently was also commissioned by an O’ Connor.

I couldn’t find out when the cross finally left Ballylongford and went on public display in Dublin. If anyone has any more information, please do let me know.

After my trip to the National Museum I was looking into some of the items in the museum that were found in my native Co. Kerry. One of the pieces I saw in Dublin was an amazing silver gilt cross from Lislaughtin Abbey, Ballylongford. I went about finding out more about the cross but so far the search has been fruitless. There seems to be nothing out there about it, apart from one book that only exists in the city archive library. I know it sounds all very De-Vinci-code-esque! So for the time being I’m going to shelve that until I crack the secret of Ballymacasey cross.

Anyway in my research of the cross I found a great story about a silver raid in Ballyheigue, a small coastal village also in Kerry. It’s the story of the ‘Golden Lyon’ a Danish ship which which in October 1730 was driven on to the sands near Ballyheigue during a bad storm. The ship had been travelling from Copenhagen to India with a cargo which included twelve large chests of silver bullion.

There were no casualties of the eighty seven crew but there was extensive damage to the vessel. Because of the precious cargo on board there was a threat that a few opportunistic locals might take the silver. The local landlord, Thomas Crosbie, decided that all the silver bullion should be moved to his castle where he would store it temporarily. It is said that, although he wasn’t a young man, ‘he went to the strand, drove back possible villains, comforted the sailors and had the silver transported to his own home’ where Ballyheigue castle now stands. The silver was held in an old tower until arrangements could be made to have it moved.

Soon after this Crosbie died. His widow quickly lodged a claim against the Danes for salvage. This resulted in a legal battle while the silver remained under guard in the tower. The following June the Crosbie mansion was surrounded by one hundred armed men. They broke into the tower, shot two guards and took the twelve chests of silver away on horse and carts.

The robbery was investigated and charges were brought against a number of people although many believed some of the ‘upper class’ of North Kerry were behind the crime. The trial in Dublin was dogged with perjury, suicide and the suspected poisoning of a witness. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty. While a small part of the silver was recovered the bulk of the silver remains a mystery.

I couldn’t believe the story when I read it, how did something that exciting happen so close to where I grew up and I never heard about it before? Granted it was a good two hundred years before I was born but regardless it’s the kind of thing that people should remember!

The Ballymacasey Cross

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