Kilnasaggart Pillar Stone
A wonderful and unique monument, almost two metres tall, in the corner of a field near the border of Co Armagh and Co Louth. It has 10 crosses on one face and three, plus a long Gaelic inscription, on the other: 'This place, bequeathed by Temoc, son of Ceran Bic, under the patronage of Peter, the Apostle'. Ternohc’s death is recorded in the Annals at 714 or 716 and so the pillar is thought to date to around 700. It is thought to be the earliest historically dated inscribed stone in Ireland. Though now alone, excavations in the 1960's revealed christian graves aligned east west around its base. A church was indicated nearby on a map of 1609 but this was not discovered in the excavation. The pillar stands near the ancient route through the "Gap of the North" from Meath to Ulster on one of ancient Ireland's five great roads: the 'Slghe Midhlachra'. Edward Bruce is said to have slept at "Kilsagart" in his campaign of the early Fourteenth Century. Today, the pillar is preserved as a Monument in State Care.
A wonderful and unique monument, almost two metres tall, in the corner of a field near the border of Co Armagh and Co Louth. It has 10 crosses on one face and three, plus a long Gaelic inscription, on the other: 'This place, bequeathed by Temoc, son of Ceran Bic, under the patronage of Peter, the Apostle'. Ternohc’s death is recorded in the Annals at 714 or 716 and so the pillar is thought to date to around 700. It is thought to be the earliest historically dated inscribed stone in Ireland. Though now alone, excavations in the 1960's revealed christian graves aligned east west around its base. A church was indicated nearby on a map of 1609 but this was not discovered in the excavation. The pillar stands near the ancient route through the "Gap of the North" from Meath to Ulster on one of ancient Ireland's five great roads: the 'Slghe Midhlachra'. Edward Bruce is said to have slept at "Kilsagart" in his campaign of the early Fourteenth Century. Today, the pillar is preserved as a Monument in State Care.
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