celtic cross

THE GARDEN OF PEACE AND PRAYER – FEATURING A TRADITIONAL KHACHKAR

Not to be confused with The Peace Garden the small park situated opposite Christ Church Cathedral and was the location of a late medieval Tholsel building which served variously as a meeting place for the City Council, a courthouse and as an exchange for the city’s merchants.

The Khachkar is part of the Armenian Christian identity and they are generally carved from volcanic stone. The one which now stands in the grounds of the cathedral was designed by Aram Hakhumvan, who lives in Ireland and carved in Armenia by Arta Hambardzumvan. It features a Celtic Cross with an Armenian Cross standing out of it and the rest of the stone has many Irish and Armenian details including shamrocks and grapes.

CELTIC HIGH CROSS ON LEHAUNSTOWN LANE – SEE IT IN CONTEXT WHILE YOU CAN

This cross will remain but the context or setting is likely to disappear within the next few years.

I try to visit this area on a regular basis but because of Covid-19 restrictions I have been unable to visit for more than a year and I am beginning to become very concerned about the future of this country lane. Effectively the lane is public but every time that I visit access to the fields and sites along the lane has reduced. This visit I could not access the old church and graveyard or the old cross in the field across the lane from the church.

I would now describe Lehaunstown Lane as nothing more that a public path through a massive building site and I suspect that the hedgerows will disappear within two or three years. When all the development projects have been completed it is likely that the area will become a POPS [Privately Owned Public Space] which is not at all good.

I am willing to bet than most Dubliners do not know of this place or that if they see the name they will assume that it is a misspelling of Loughlinstown [which is nearby]. To add to the confusion the tram stop is Laughanstown but the laneway leading to Tully Church is Lehaunstown.

As you walk along a lonely country lane from the LUAS tram stop at Laughanstown to the old church at Tully the first thing of note that you will see is a well preserved high cross. The cross was saved from destruction by James Grehan in the later part of the nineteenth century. The road next to the cross was being lowered and James Grehan had this small wall built and the cross placed upon it at its original height.