On the north side of the church of Castledermot in County Kildare stands the 3.12 metre high granite cross, pictured above. It is called the North Cross. It is one of two beutifully decorated granite crosses erected in the ninth century. Also present at Castledermot are, a 10th century round tower, a romanesque archway, a Viking hogback and a variety of cross slabs and holed stones. On the opposite side of the Main Street are the ruins of a Franciscan Abbey. A monastery of Castledermot was founded at the beginning of the 9th century by St Dermot. It was formerly known as Diseart Diarmada or Dermot's hermitage. Dermot was reputedly the grandson of the King of Ulster, Áed Róin (d.735). The Irish desert is accociated with the religious movement of the Culdees, who glorified the ascetic life inherited by the Golden Age of Christianity in Ireland from Coptic Egypt. Apart from biblical, apocryphal and hagiographical scenes, there are also more mysterious scemes; the north side of the base bears a carving of a winged creature, which is belived to represent the devil, though it may also be a pagan representation of a seated and bearded creature (sometimes compared a a bird like creature). Some details as wings or the upper part above the head are highly worn out today.
Photos by Felipe Almeida & Joanna Pyrgies.
@joannapyrgies
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