Great discovery at Holy Cross Abbey – missing 600-year-old plaque is located
Holycross-Ballycahill Parish has a lot to celebrate this year. The Golden Jubilee of the restoration of the Abbey Church takes place in 2025. The solemn official opening took place on 5th October 1975 and was an international as well as a national event.
The Abbey 50 Committee have organised a number of events to mark the historic milestone. Michelle Dwan and her team organised a number of afternoon teas in the dormitory which were hugely special and very well supported.
On 5th October 2024 the celebrations continued with “Whispers of the Abbey”. This was a stage presentation of the stories, folklore and history of the 800 year old Abbey. That event was a tremendous success. John Bourke hosted a 3D talk on the carvings of the Abbey by Caimin O’Brien on 26th October.
This gave a unique insight into the thinking behind some of the carvings. A bust of Willie Hayes, who was the inspiration behind the restoration, was unveiled on the occasion of a Mass for the First Anniversary of his death on 8th December last. The limestone bust by Philip Quinn now stands on the green area west of the Abbey where it and the bronze bust of Archbishop Morris frame the west gable.
At the behest of Fr. Celsus Tierney PP a pop-up cafe was organised by Claire Ryan-O’Keeffe to raise funds for charity. Along with donations this raised €5,000 for the Dillon Quirke Foundation.
Next to come was a photographic exhibition entitled “Holycross Through a Lens – A Village, An Abbey and Its People”. This took place on 8th 9th March last. It was another great success though of too short a duration. It was while Claire Ryan-O’Keeffe was sifting through hundreds of photos for the exhibition that Tom Gallagher pointed out to her an old photo of the cloister area which pictured a carved limestone crest of the Butlers of Ormond. They were the patrons of the Abbey in the early 1400’s. The plaque is estimated to be 600 years-old but it has been missing for the best part of 50 years. Efforts to locate it had proven fruitless.
By coincidence, the next day Claire came across another photo in the Willie Hayes’ collection. This showed the Butler crest positioned at the corner of the reading cloister at right angles and beside the O’Chongail plaque. The location of the latter is well known. That corner of the reading cloister was clad in timber so with the permission of Fr. Tierney PP, Seamus Crosse and his team began removing the timber on 25th March, 2025. As the timber came away there for all to see was the Butler plaque in all its glory.
Claire later declared that the finding of the carving of the Butler crest was “the Jubilee Jackpot” for her. The plaque can now be viewed high up on the left before you enter the main door of the renowned Abbey. Thanks to Claire’s alert detective work this is a wonderful discovery in this Jubilee Year of celebration.
The celebrations will continue with an Abbey quiz on Easter Sunday for families, with an easter egg for all. Being planned too are two screen presentations – one of an old film highlighting the restoration 50 years ago. To accompany this there will be new footage showing the changes in the village since then.
At a date to be decided there will be a viewing of interviews of people associated with the care and restoration of the abbey. This set of old videos is being edited and organised for screen at present.
The film and “Voices of the Abbey” videos will be screened later in the year to celebrate the workers who made history happen.