Celtic crosses on the Hill of Tara

You might have wondered where the Celtic crosses were in my previous post about the Hill of Tara. Well, the truth is, I withheld the Celtic crosses because I knew I had a more photos than I needed for one post and I do enjoy posting Celtic crosses every Friday. But I was holding back on you, because the Celtic cross monuments on the Hill of Tara are absolutely stunning.

I can’t find any information on this cross anywhere:

It’s not in the cemetery proper; it stands by itself inside a little iron fence, and I can’t find any explanation of what it marks.

The O’Reilly monument is just how I imagined an Irish tombstone should look: a Celtic cross with shamrocks in the lobes of the cross.

The Parker tombstone is older and much more difficult to decipher. After a significant amount of time with my digital photograph and a lot of zoom, my reading is:

Erected to the memory of Thomas and Mary Parker who died prior to the year 1879 and their son Patrick Parker who departed this life June 8, 1879, aged 37? years.

My guess from the text is that Patrick (or his family) placed this tombstone here well after his parents’ deaths – makes me wonder if Thomas and Mary are even buried on the Hill.

This was in front of the old church, sort of off by itself. I’m not sure if there is anything significant about it yet. Cross is on the top, a little hard to see from this angle:

I’m not sure I have words for the beauty of Dessie Maguire’s monument, the white knotworked cross rising against the stormy sky and framed by the naked tree branches.