Tuam High Cross

Tuam High Cross, also known as The Market Cross, is a mid-12^th century sandstone cross with rolled and cavetto mouldings. The south face has two clerics in high relief and an inscription at its base translated as ‘Prayer for Turlough O’Connor for the … of Iarlath by whom was made’. At the base of the north face a second inscription is translated as ‘Prayer for O Hossin, for the Abbot, by whom was made’. Turlough Mór O’Connor was high king of Ireland from c.1120 to 1156. Turlough is noted in history for building, refounding and reconstructing religious establishments, most notably Cong Abbey in the early 12^th century. Turlough also commissioned the Cross of Cong made from oak and covered in gold and silver with other ornamentation. The head on the south face has a depiction of The Crucifixion spanning the entire face, with its shaft beneath of three panels of Urnes-type decoration. The north face head depicts a bishop with a crozier in his left hand with two small figures to the left and right. The ring moulding ends with animal heads. The shaft has one panel of interlace and the remaining panels have Urnes-style decoration with the base panel having a square hole. Tuam High Cross is richly decorated with further Urnes ornamentation, panels of interlace with interlaced animals, figure carved in high relief, and cheque patterns.

The fragment of another high cross consists of a cross shaft with incised decorations of interlacing spirals, circles, animals and squares of fretwork with the inscription ‘Prayer for the King, for Turlough O’Connor. Prayer for the artificer, for Gillu Christ O’Thuathail’. It is uncommon for an artist to be memorialised, marking this decorated cross-shaft as the work of Gillu C. O’Toole. A second inscription reads ‘A Prayer for the comharba of Jarlath, for Aed O Ossin, by whom this cross was made’. Very similar to the inscription on the Tuam High Cross, indicating both crosses came from roughly the same time period. A further fragment of a cross head shows a ring encircling the head. The head has two perforations, aside from being in four pieces. It has Urnes-type decoration of intertwined animals.

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This national monument is protected in accordance with the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014