Kilfenora Cathedral and Crosses, Medieval cathedral and stone crosses in Burren region, County Clare, Ireland.
Kilfenora Cathedral is a Church of Ireland building in the Burren, County Clare, with a nave reconstructed around 1850 and a roofless 12th-century chancel. The chancel's east window has triangular pillars with carved capitals, flanked by a bishop's effigy and a tonsured cleric holding a book. A glass roof added in 2005 covers the transept where three high crosses are kept.
Saint Fachtna founded the original monastery here during the 6th century. It later became a diocesan seat following the Synod of Kells in 1152.
The Doorty Cross, likely carved around 1152 when the diocese was created, now stands inside the chancel; its east face shows Saint Peter blessing an abbot and a bishop, marking the shift from monastic to diocesan status. The three high crosses moved under a glass roof in 2005 stand in the transept, not the ruined Lady Chapel.
The nave, reconstructed around 1850, is the part still used for worship, while the chancel stands roofless and open to the sky. The three high crosses moved for protection stand under a glass roof fitted in 2005 in the transept, not in the Lady Chapel, which is a ruined north wing. The graveyard around the cathedral holds most of the tombs and cross shafts.
The Doorty Cross, now in the chancel, was found in two pieces and reassembled at the west entrance; it may date from 1152, when the diocese was created. Its east face shows Saint Peter blessing an abbot and a bishop, marking the shift from monastic to diocesan status. The largest high cross was moved in 1821 to St Flannan's Cathedral in Killaloe.
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