Poor old Kells two bad blows in a week or so of each other.
You will have seen in Matt Kavanagh's most revealing picture on Wednesday that the Market Cross, which stood so boldly out on its own at the roadside, got a knock. Its base was hit by a bus, and is seen to be in several pieces. The cross itself was not touched, though whether the shock will have affected the precious old stone work is not clear.
There has been much argument about this very public monument. One is that it was bound to be hit sometime there can be no hour of the 24 when some traffic is not passing and that it should be brought indoors to a suitable museum in the town itself. The counter view is that it has stood there, possibly since the middle of the ninth century, and that the people of Kells are so proud of it that it would be an affront to local feeling to move it. This week the general view seemed to be that the authorities would shift it quickly. It may be gone elsewhere for inspection at least before this appears.
Dr Peter Barbison who knows all about our high crosses yes, all takes the view that acid rain is the eventual enemy of all such crosses. Asked his opinion, he felt that it would be better inside, in a controlled atmosphere. He points out that at Clonmacnoise this had already been done. And in, Tuam, a cross which was similarly exposed to city traffic was brought into St Mary's Cathedral.
In the Royal Irish Academy Historic Towns Atlas of Kells, Anngret and Katherine Simms put the Kells cross at mid 9th century. It was re-erected from a fallen position in 1688, and a new plinth was put to it in 1893. Possibly, they say, an old termon cross termon being defined as land belonging to a religious house so, a boundary marker.
The second Kells debacle concerns the collapse into the street of a great portion of the churchyard wall of St Columba's Church, when council workers were replacing the footpath. With the collapse, down came what grave yards naturally contain. Early this week, a great stretch of footpath was railed off, vast sheets of plastic hung down from the top of the wall, about ten feet high or more, in places. Good work has been done on renewing footpaths in the town. Pity to spoil the record. Probably least said, soonest mended. Poor Kells.