TWO CROSSES AND TULLY CHURCH AT LAUGHANSOWN LANE
The Laughanstown High Cross, also known as the Tully High Cross, is located near Tully Church in Laughanstown, County Dublin, Ireland. The site consists of the ruined medieval Tully Church and two stone high crosses. The church and its lands were donated to Christ Church in Dublin by Sitric Mac Torcaill, shortly after the Anglo-Norman invasion, and continued to be used until the beginning of the 17th century.
The exact date of construction of the first church at this location is unknown, but the remains of the foundation of the early nave may be from the 9th century or older. The chancel, divided from the nave by a fine arch, was added in the late 12th or early 13th century. It is unusual in that it is wider than the nave.
The site is reputed to be dedicated to St. Bridget and was an important diocesan centre in the 1st Millennium AD, referred to in early literature as Tulach na nEpscop (‘the Hill of the Bishops’).
There are two high crosses at the site. One is a granite ringed cross seated on a massive stone pedestal, probably dating from the 10th century. The top of the cross is shaped into a gabled roof. This cross was given a new home in the 1800s by a man named James Crehan who saved the cross from being discarded when the road level was being adjusted by placing the cross on a plinth.
The second granite high cross, dating from the 12th century, is located in a nearby field, to the north-west of the church. It’s 2.2m high and has a figure of a bearded bishop carved on one side, and on the other side, there are strong raised mouldings outlining the cross, with a faceless head at the intersection of the arms.
The graveyard surrounding the ruin is home to headstones dating up to the late 19th century. The site is freely accessible and offers wonderful views of Killiney Hill and the Irish Sea to the east, and the Dublin Mountains to the west.