Arts and Crafts of Celtic Britain page 2

A few words must be said about the high crosses like those at Clonmacnoise and elsewhere, which were such a glory of the art of the Celts in the Christian period. These are wheel crosses, that is to say the arms of the cross are embraced by a stone circle from which the ends project. The figure of the Redeemer is small and within the ambit of the circle. On the top of the cross is a small representation of a roofed building of the type used for reliquaries. The cross and circle are at the top of a tall pillar with a pedestal, and the sides, face and back of this shaft are covered with that knot-work which is so marked a characteristic of this art. The crosses of Cornwall, like that, for example, at Sancreed, are smaller examples, marked by the same characteristic of the figure being unduly small in comparison with the shaft.