A high cross or standing cross is a large, freestanding Christian cross made of stone and often decorated with intricate designs. During the early medieval period, Ireland and Great Britain had a special tradition of creating large stone crosses, usually placed outdoors. These crosses likely developed from earlier wooden crosses, possibly with metal parts, and from older pagan Celtic memorial stones. The Pictish stones of Scotland may have also influenced their design. The earliest surviving examples come from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, which was converted to Christianity by Irish missionaries. It is still unclear whether this style first began in Ireland or Britain.
The carved designs on these crosses include religious figures and patterns such as knotwork, interlace, and vine-scrolls. These styles are also found in other medieval art, like illuminated manuscripts and metalwork. The crosses were likely painted, possibly over a layer of plaster. Over time, the paint has worn away, making some scenes with many small figures hard to see clearly.
Early crosses were usually about two meters or eight feet tall. Later in Ireland, some crosses grew much taller, reaching up to three times the original height. These large crosses had thick, sturdy shapes, providing more space for carving. The tallest Irish cross is the Tall Cross at Monasterboice in County Louth, which is seven meters or twenty-two feet high. Anglo-Saxon crosses were generally slimmer, though some were large. Their decoration was mostly ornamental, with fewer figures compared to Irish crosses.
Many crosses have a stone ring around the center, forming a Celtic cross. This design may have originated in Celtic Christianity, possibly at Iona. However, an example of this style was found on a fifth- to seventh-century Coptic textile. The term "high cross" is mainly used in Ireland and Scotland, but the tradition of creating these crosses was shared across Great Britain and Ireland, with regional differences.
Some crosses were placed near churches and monasteries, while others stood at boundaries or crossroads, possibly before churches were built. It is unclear if they were used as "preaching crosses" early on. Many crosses have been moved from their original locations. They were not used as grave markers during the early medieval period. In the 19th century, during the Celtic Revival, Celtic crosses with insular-style decoration became popular as gravestones and memorials worldwide. Unlike the original Irish crosses, these modern versions usually do not include figures in their designs.
Ireland and Great Britain
High crosses are the most important surviving examples of Insular art, and the largest number in Britain are found in areas where Celtic Christianity lasted until much later. No wooden crosses or those with metal parts from earlier times have survived. Early crosses used designs similar to metalwork, just like the decorated pages of Insular manuscripts. Saint Adomnán, an abbot of Iona who died in 704, wrote about wooden crosses with rings, which were later replaced by stone versions. The earliest known stone crosses are the Carndonagh stones in Donegal, Ireland, built by missionaries from Iona fleeing Viking attacks. These crosses helped spread the design of ringed crosses. The round decorations on early crosses likely came from Pictish stones. High crosses may have appeared as early as the 7th century in Northumbria, which included parts of southeast Scotland and Ireland, though Irish dates are now thought to be later. Most well-preserved crosses, such as those at Ruthwell, Bewcastle, Iona, and the Kildalton Cross, date to around or just before 800, even though Northumbrian and Celtic styles differ. Over time, high crosses spread across the British Isles, including Wales, Devon, Brittany, and Cornwall, where Irish influence is also seen through ogham inscriptions. Some examples exist in Europe, where Insular missionaries introduced the style.
Most Irish high crosses have the ringed Celtic cross shape, are larger, and have more detailed carvings than others. They may have survived better because many British crosses were destroyed after the Reformation, leaving only parts of the shaft. The ring on the cross originally strengthened the structure but later became a decorative element. High crosses often showed the status of a monastery or sponsor and may have been used for teaching. Some have inscriptions naming the person who funded them, like Muiredach’s High Cross and the Bewcastle Cross. Early 8th- or 9th-century Irish crosses had only patterns like interlace and round bosses, but by the 9th and 10th centuries, images of figures appeared, including Christ on the cross. The largest 10th-century examples have many figures across the surface. A notable example is the Ardboe Cross in Ulster, Ireland, which is about 18 feet tall and has 22 panels showing biblical scenes. Later Irish crosses sometimes show fewer figures, like Christ with a local bishop or abbot, carved in high relief. The Irish tradition stopped after the 12th century until the 19th-century Celtic Revival, which brought back the Celtic cross for gravestones and memorials, usually with only decoration and inscriptions. These crosses are now found worldwide, often without ties to the Insular Celts or Britain.
Anglo-Saxon crosses were usually slimmer and nearly square in shape. When near Celtic areas, like the Ruthwell and Bewcastle crosses, they were larger to match local styles. The 9th-century Sandbach crosses are the largest of their time. Their heads were smaller and not Celtic-style, though many cross heads have not survived. Carved figures on large Anglo-Saxon crosses were bigger and more detailed than similar Irish crosses from the same period. Anglo-Saxon decoration often combined vine-leaf patterns with interlace, similar to Celtic designs. Smaller crosses had less decoration and more inscriptions, which were common on Anglo-Saxon crosses.
After Viking invasions, Norse settlers in the Danelaw adopted the high cross style, blending Christian and pagan symbols. The Church allowed this as a way to show the transition to Christianity. The Gosforth Cross in England is a rare nearly complete example. By the 10th century, Anglo-Norse crosses were common in England, while high crosses were no longer made in the south. Simple Dartmoor crosses, made of tough granite, were used for centuries to help travelers navigate the area. These crosses have minimal decoration and are hard to date. Market crosses, many from the early medieval period, continued to be built and replaced into modern times.
In Pictish Scotland, cross-slabs developed as a mix of Pictish stones and high crosses. These were flat stones with a cross carved on one side and other designs like interlace on the rest. They are different from true high crosses.
Scandinavia
The tradition of building high crosses began when Norse settlers arrived in the British Isles and encountered a Christian culture. A broken cross found in Granhammar, Vintrosa parish, Närke, Sweden, shows evidence of an English mission in central Sweden. This Swedish cross was very similar to a cross in Leek, Staffordshire, and may have been created by an English immigrant. In Norway, the British tradition of high crosses was more widely accepted, with about 60 stone crosses known in the country. However, only four of these crosses can be reliably dated to the Viking Age because they have runic inscriptions. Many of the crosses were likely placed on areas where pagan burials occurred after families converted to Christianity. Later, these crosses were moved to cemeteries. The high cross tradition may also have encouraged the popularity of raising runestones (which sometimes have engraved crosses) in Sweden.
Modern period
In the 19th century, many large modern versions of Celtic crosses were built for different purposes. Smaller Celtic crosses have also been used as grave markers, often with simple, abstract designs like twisted patterns.
In 1887, the Rev. William Slater Calverley ordered a full-sized copy of the Gosforth Cross to be made and placed in the churchyard at Aspatria, Cumbria.
In the early 2000s, an Irish sculptor named Brendan McGloin was asked by the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Portland to create a full-size replica of the Clonmacnoise Cross of the Scriptures. The 13-foot-tall, 5-ton sandstone cross was finished in 2007 and sent from Donegal to Portland, Oregon, where it now serves as a Famine memorial. In 2016, a high cross was built outside Wakefield Cathedral in West Yorkshire, England. It was carved from stone taken from Holmfirth and made by Celia Kilner. This cross was modeled after a Saxon high cross from around 930 A.D.