Skreen - Cross |
Skreen church is one of the most conspicuous landmarks in the area, its massive Norman-style square tower sitting on the top of Skreen hill and dominating the skyline to the east of Tara.
Although the present church is probably 15th century, the site goes back much further. In 875 the shrine and relics of St. Colmcille were kept here but they were robbed in 1027, to be recovered later.
The tower houses a reconstructed font and a very impressive grave slab. The keys to the tower are available locally, but at 7:30 in the morning I thought my inquiring after them might not be too popular.
There is a nice carving of a bishop above the southern doorway.
This is an explanation of (and a bit of a disclaimer for) the coordinates I provide. Where a GPS figure is given this is the master for all other coordinates. According to my Garmin these are quite accurate. Where there is no GPS figure the 6 figure grid reference is master for the others. This may not be very accurate as it could have come from the OS maps and could have been read by eye. Consequently, all other cordinates are going to have inaccuracies. The calculation of Longitude and Latitude uses an algorithm that is not 100% accurate. The long/lat figures are used as a basis for calculating the UTM & ITM coordinates. Consequently, UTM & ITM coordinates are slightly out. UTM is a global coordinate system - Universal Transverse Mercator - that is at the core of the GPS system. ITM is the new coordinate system - Irish Transverse Mercator - that is more accurate and more GPS friendly than the Irish Grid Reference system. This will be used on the next generation of Irish OS maps. |