Ringworks

close
more_vert
FourWinds F
FourWinds Aug 7, 2005 08:58:46
Replying to Hob

I think it is a database thing. Saying that, there is the dreaded term <i>High Cross</i>, which would be better as Sculpted Crosses as many of them ain't all that high. I think the term 'high' used is the same as that in <i>High Church</i> and was coined by the protestant Englishified antiquarians in Dublin.

You get similar naming problems with pottery styles, which are often named after the first place they were found in. This can be a problem when the first place they were found in was a remote outlying location from the main concentration.

P PeterH
PeterH Aug 7, 2005 12:31:36
Replying to FourWinds

"I think the term 'high' used is the same as that in High Church and was coined by the protestant Englishified antiquarians in Dublin"

I don't think so. My understanding is that the term was first used for free standing crosses as opposed to the earlier crosses carved on stone slabs. (Malcolm Seaborne -Celtic Crosses of Britain and Ireland)

Another theory is that high crosses marked the highway (highway derives from "hay way" - the road by which hay was transported by wagons) This seems unlikely, but terms come into use and are soon mis-used.