Dunsany Cross Vandalism

ibarelycare

I saw this on the Meath Crime Prevention Facebook last week and meant to check was it up here. It happened the Saturday morning of the bank holiday weekend.

A discraceful act of vandalism was carried out in Dunsany in the early hours of Saturday morning. Dunsany Cross which is a historical monument and is believed to be approx 900 years old was smashed to pieces. The damage was suspected to be done by vandals between 12pm and 9am. If there was anybody passing by Dunsany Cross which is situated almost directly across from the entrance to Dunsany Castle in the early hours of Saturday morning from midnight to approx 9am can you get in contact with the Gardai in Ashbourne on 01-8010600. There was a sighting of a number of individuals in the area at approx 5am and if there is anybody that can identify these people please contact Ashbourne Gardai or the Garda Confidential Line 1800666111. Please share this post with as many friends as possible. If you have any friends living in the area please pass these details on to them.

This is a picture of the cross (before obviously!)






Such a disgusting thing for people to do to a piece of history. Has anyone heard any update on it?

niallb

I saw it around lunchtime on the day, but heard no real updates since.

PaddyCar

Anyone know if the cross can be repaired?

fiddler09

Standing for 900 years and then one (or more) scumbag destroys it in minutes.
The shame of it.

The Office of Public Works will make every 'public' monument inaccessible if the recent spate of vandalism continues.

PauloMN

Fcuks sake, that's a disgrace. WTF sort of people are these?

gaiscioch

wrote:

A disgraceful act of vandalism was carried out in Dunsany in the early hours of Saturday morning. Dunsany Cross which is a historical monument and is believed to be approx 900 years old was smashed to pieces.

Words absolutely fail me to describe the people who did this. I could not believe my eyes this afternoon when I called with tourists to show them this wayside cross outside Dunsany castle that I have visited and photographed innumerable times before. The cross was gone, totally gone. Removed. I was sure it had been stolen because I know other medieval artefacts from Dunsany castle have been stolen in recent years to the extent that many have now been removed from the castle grounds (again, this low level but regular theft of national artefacts is rarely publicised)

I googled when I came home and came across this thread from precisely 1 year ago. Why is this not making national news? Indeed, how many people in the area are aware of it? Is there any update on this cross?

Here's the photo I took this afternoon, 12 June 2014, and there is still no cross




Here's a photo I took on Easter Sunday 2011

gipi

Given the recent vandalism at Tara (where paint was daubed onto the stone monuments), I'd wonder if Dunsany will ever be put back.

There was some recent discussion about the ancient crosses at Monasterboice and how they're vulnerable to vandalism too - as was mentioned in an earlier post, the monuments may have to be made less accessible just to protect them.

gaiscioch

gipi wrote: »

Given the recent vandalism at Tara (where paint was daubed onto the stone monuments), I'd wonder if Dunsany will ever be put back.

There was some recent discussion about the ancient crosses at Monasterboice and how they're vulnerable to vandalism too - as was mentioned in an earlier post, the monuments may have to be made less accessible just to protect them.

I've been told by somebody in the area that rather than the act of philistinism reported here, a vehicle is now believed to have crashed into the Dunsany wayside cross. Has anybody else heard this?

NufcNavan

gaiscioch wrote: »

I've been told by somebody in the area that rather than the act of philistinism reported here, a vehicle is now believed to have crashed into the Dunsany wayside cross. Has anybody else heard this?

Judging by the photo that's unlikely. There doesn't appear to be damage to the base of the cross.

niallb

There was no damage low down.
It was cracked off cleanly and it's possible it was a vehicle with a high swing arm or crane.
It could also have been a heavy trailer swinging while turning.

niallb

Just for the record, the cross is back!