Kilnasaggart Pillar Stone

Kilnasaggart sits in a quiet field a few miles south of Newry, just north of the border. Pilgrims walked this way along the Slighe Mhór, one of the great medieval roads through Ireland, and the stone marks an early Christian cemetery beside the route. Several small cross-slabs lie around the main pillar.

Access is by a short signed lane off the B113. The site is unattended, free, and atmospheric — usually empty, surrounded by cattle, with the Gap of the North as a backdrop. Bring boots if the field is wet.

things to do sight
A story
The Kilnasaggart Stone is the earliest dateable Christian monument in Ireland — the Old Irish inscription on it commemorates a man called Ternoc, son of Ceran, who is recorded in early annals as having died in 716 AD. The crosses cut into the granite are simple ringed shapes, much older than the elaborate high crosses that came later.