Meath – Sarstieldstown Wayside Cross Parish of Moore Church

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File contributed by:  C.Hunt and Celia Ewald

THE SARSTIELDSTOWN WAYSIDE CROSS PARISH OF MOORE CHURCH.
	[From Lord Walter FitzGerald.]

'The existence of this interesting monument was first
brought to my notice in 1903, when I discovered a rubbing of
the inscription on the cross among the documents belonging
to the Association which were handed over to me by the late
Colonel P. D. Vigors, when he resigned the Editorship of the
JOURNAL. The rubbing, however, was quite useless, as it was
taken on thick white paper, and no attempt had been made to
pencil in the shape of the letters from the originals; the
neglect to do so often causes a rubbing to be a failure.
During the months of April in 1904 and 1905 I paid three or
four visits to this cross, and the results of my rubbings
are here reproduced.  In order to make the inscription
clearer to the eye, I have darkened the back-ground, as the
lettering is incised.  As there is no date recorded in the
inscription, a guess has to be made as to what period it
belongs to, and, as will be explained further on, this may
be fixed at the end of the fifteenth century.

'The cross is situated in a field close to the public road
from Drogheda to Dublin, and four and a-half miles from the
former.  The existing remains consist of a portion of the
shaft, which is inserted in a square slab resting on a
platform composed of three steps of rough mason-work. Both
the shaft and the socketed base bear inscriptions.

'The Shaft, in its present fractured state, is 3½ feet high,
with sides measuring 19 inches and 15 inches.  In the lower
part of all the four sides are inscriptions in three or four
lines.  Above the inscription on the west side is a male
figure, and, on the east side, a female figure, probably
representing the two individuals (Christopher Barnewall and
Elizabeth Plunkett) named in the inscription, as they
represent neither ecclesiastics nor saints, such as appear
on the north and south sides.

The Slab, in which the shaft is inserted, measures 34 inches
by 29 inches, and in thickness 8 inches.  It has a bevelled
edge all round. On this bevelled portion is cut a
continuation of the inscription on the shaft.

'The Inscription is in deeply incised "black-letter," or
Gothic style of lettering.  It commences on the west side of
the shaft, continues on the south, east, and north sides
respectively, and then restarts on the west side of the
slab, finishing up on the north

Sidee.  The edges of the shaft are also bevelled, and at the
north-west corner there are traces of letters running up the
shaft; but here, unfortunately, the inscription is quite
undecipherable.

'Through the kind assistance of our member, the Rev. William
Canon Carrigan, P.P., the inscription has been deciphered
and translated. This is all the more satisfactory, as I was
informed by a man living in a house close to the Cross that
many a one had attempted to read the inscription, but all
had given it up in despair.  Father Carrigan's reading is as
follows':--

Octavian'
archiepis=
cop' toci'
hibins=
e pins
conces=
On	sit uni=
The	cuiq penite=
shaft.	ti devote dice=
ti p aiabus
Cristo=
Fori
barne=
male

Militis & Elizabet Plunket & omi
On	fidelin defuctoz Pat. nr.
the	& Ave m tocies quoctes xxx Dies
Slab.	Indulgecie imppetuum.

'Or with the contractions expanded':-- Octavianus
archiepiscopus tocius Hibernie primas concessit unicuique
penitenti devote dicenti pro anima.bus Cristofori Barnewale
militis et Elizabethe Plunket et omnium fidelium
defunctorum, Pater Noster et Ave Maria tocieus qucciens xxx
dies indullgencie imper-petuum.

TRANSLATION.

Octavian, archbishop, Primate of All Ireland, has granted an
indulgence of thirty days, in perpetuity, to every one,
truly contrite, as often as they shall devoutly say an Our
Father and Hail Mary for the souls of Sir Christopher
Barnewall Kt. And Elizabeth Plunkett and of all the faithful
departed.

'Octavian de Palatio, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of
All Ireland, was Consecrated Archbishop in 1480 and died at
a very advanced age in June, 1518; he was buried in St.
Peter's Church in Drogheda.  A memoir of him by Dr. Reeves
appeared in the "Journal of the Royal Historical and
Archaelogical Association of Ireland" (now the R.S.A. Ire.)
for the year 1875 (consecutive volume, No. XIII).

'Another portion of this wayside cross lies in the garden of
a house, close by, belonging to a man named O'Brien; this
garden occupies a portion of the site of the former chapel
of Keenoge.  This piece of the cross is richly carved with
foliage designs in high relief; below them, on one face,
appears the crucifixion, with the Blessed Virgin Mary and
St. John; on the other face is the Blessed Virgin and Child.
At one of the sides is St. Lawrence, holding a gridiron; and
on the opposite side is St. Matthew, holding a staff in one
hand, while slung from his shoulder is a satchel.

'Sir Christopher Barnewall, 2nd Baron of Trimblestown, was
the son of Robert, 1st Baron (by his wife Anne le Brune),
who was the second son of Sir Christopher Barnewall, Kt., of
Crickstown, in the County Meath, Chief Justice of the King's
Bench.

'Sir Christopher, the 2nd Baron, was in possession of the
title in 1488, in which year he was granted a pardon from
Henry VII for supporting the pretender to the throne --
Lambert Simnel.  He was present under the Lord Deputy, the
Earl of Kildare, at the famous battle of Knockdoe in the
County of Galway, which was fought on the 19th August, 1504.
 The date of Sir Christopher's death is not recorded; but as
his son and heir, John Barnewall, is recorded in a Memoranda
Roll of 21 Henry VII, as being Lord of Trimblestown in 1505,
his death must have occurred about this

Time.  By his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas
Plunkett, Kt., of Rathmore, County Meath, he had two sons
and three daughters, viz.:--

1 .John, 2nd Justice of the King's Bench, 3rd Baron of
Trimlestown. 2. Robert, of Roestown, County Meath.

1. Ismay, who married William Bathe of Rathfeigh, Meath.

2. . ., married John Netterville, of Dowth, County

3. Alison, married Roger Barnewall, of Fieldstown, County
Meath, ancestor of the Viscounts Kingsland.

Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the
Memorials of the Dead in Ireland Vol. IX  (FHL# 1279285)