What is this? Found in back garden

sully2010

I was doing a bit of digging in the back garden and uncovered this very old looking iron cross. Just wondering does anyone know what it? Its 46 inches long and 18 inches wide.

Thanks

zimmermania

sully2010 wrote: »

I was doing a bit of digging in the back garden and uncovered this very old looking iron cross. Just wondering does anyone know what it? Its 46 inches long and 18 inches wide.

Thanks

Its an iron cross.

chopper6

It looks like a grave marker of some sort...you see similar crosses in churchyards to mark nuns and monks burials.

It's almost certainly ecclesiastical in some way.

Do you live near a church or graveyard?

gobnaitolunacy

Sometimes you see those on old graves where presumably they couldn't afford a stone monument.

sully2010

chopper6 wrote: »

It looks like a grave marker of some sort...you see similar crosses in churchyards to mark nuns and monks burials.

It's almost certainly ecclesiastical in some way.

Do you live near a church or graveyard?

Yea there is a Church of Ireland church very nearby, was thinking it may have been connected with that alright. Cheers

Fridge

Hmmm.... makes me wonder what else you'll find if you keep digging.

sully2010

Fridge wrote: »

Hmmm.... makes me wonder what else you'll find if you keep digging.

Yea I've been wondering that myself but I'm not sure if I want to find out!

MasterSun

sully2010 wrote: »

Yea I've been wondering that myself but I'm not sure if I want to find out!

more dirt

Blade

sully2010 wrote: »

Yea I've been wondering that myself but I'm not sure if I want to find out!

Did you check directly under the cross???

gobnaitolunacy

Fridge wrote: »

Hmmm.... makes me wonder what else you'll find if you keep digging.

Right time of the year for an exhumation as well.

sully2010

Blade wrote: »

Did you check directly under the cross???

I think I'd rather not disturb someone's grave, the strange noises around the house lately are enough to be dealing with;)

Then again what if there is some loot buried there too.....

chopper6

sully2010 wrote: »

Then again what if there is some loot buried there too.....

That's a possibility although legally you could be on very shaky ground...see what i did there?

As a matter of interest,have you checked a map of your house's location to see if it previously fell into the confines of an actual graveyard?

mikom

"By the power of Grayskull.................. I have the powerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.......

karl tyrrell

It looks like a Viking sword

MajorMax

King Arthur: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. THAT is why I am your king.

Dennis: [interrupting] Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

Dennis: Oh, but you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you.

Dennis: Oh but if I went 'round sayin' I was Emperor, just because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away

sully2010

chopper6 wrote: »

That's a possibility although legally you could be on very shaky ground...see what i did there?

As a matter of interest,have you checked a map of your house's location to see if it previously fell into the confines of an actual graveyard?

I haven't no, where would I find historical maps of Dublin that might show this?

dm1979

Would love to know what it is when you find out, there is one pretty similar sitting in our schoolyard.

sully2010

dm1979 wrote: »

Would love to know what it is when you find out, there is one pretty similar sitting in our schoolyard.

If I find out! Searched all over the net and couldn't find anything but I'm fairly certain its not a sword of any kind because its way too heavy for that so it is most likely some kind of ancient grave marker.

chopper6

sully2010 wrote: »

If I find out! Searched all over the net and couldn't find anything but I'm fairly certain its not a sword of any kind because its way too heavy for that so it is most likely some kind of ancient grave marker.

It's almost certainly a grave marker...you still see them today in churchyards and sometimes at the side of the road to mark where somebody was killed in an accident.

chopper6

sully2010 wrote: »

I haven't no, where would I find historical maps of Dublin that might show this?

What's the name of the church that's nearby?

dm1979

Maybe its from an old church from the roof, a marker to set the church apart from other buildings.

Blade

sully2010 wrote: »

I haven't no, where would I find historical maps of Dublin that might show this?

Check this out... zoom into your land, then mess around with various historic maps, select the various historic layers (burial grounds and chapels included), then put the overlay on the map so you can see the old and new together.

http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V1,591271,743300,0,7

sully2010

Blade wrote: »

Check this out... zoom into your land, then mess around with various historic maps, select the various historic layers (burial grounds and chapels included), then put the overlay on the map so you can see the old and new together.

http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V1,591271,743300,0,7

Thanks for that, very informative and interesting. The house is situated on land behind the church named parochial hill on the historic 25 map. There is no church in the other historic maps and it is just fields but is very close to the grounds of an old castle.

gobnaitolunacy

It could even have been thrown over your wall by vandals at some stage, or discarded if the marker was replaced by something else. Like you often get old flower wreaths and crap thrown over graveyard walls by uncaring visitors cleaning up their own patches.

Dr Strange

How fitting, you got yourself a nice Halloween decoration for the front garden. None of that cardboard or plastic crap. Would probably look great among all the other decorations (that's if you're into Halloween decorations).

coylemj

Preusse wrote: »

How fitting, you got yourself a nice Halloween decoration for the front garden. None of that cardboard or plastic crap. Would probably look great among all the other decorations (that's if you're into Halloween decorations).

Just don't overdo the cemetery replica like this lady...

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/family-faces-eviction-over-halloween-display-26486017.html

Dr Strange

coylemj wrote: »

Just don't overdo the cemetery replica like this lady...

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/family-faces-eviction-over-halloween-display-26486017.html

If his house is situated on parts of the old cemetery he may not have to go with any 'replicas'.

chopper6

You people are getting morbid