Figure 27.12 Holycross Abbey Co. Tipperary, seen from the east. The decorated tracery of the chancel window can be seen.
Buttress
Technique
Holycross Abbey was constructed in cut stone, with decorative carving of a very high standard. The chancel, north transept, crossing and two chapels in the south transept have good rib-vaulted ceilings.
Decoration
A sedilla (seating place for clergy), known mysteriously as ‘the tomb of the good woman’s son’, has beautifully carved decoration. Three cusped arches edged in decorative leaf patterns surround the openings where the clergy sat. Shields of the Butler family and the kings of England are carved between the tops of the arches. Rows of foliage patterns cover the face of the structure and a stone canopy overhangs it.
Cusp: The pointed end where two curves meet. It can be a projecting point in Gothic decoration.
Other highly decorated parts of Holycross are the walking place (which may have been the location of the shrine of the true cross), some arches and the west doorway.
Figure 27.13 The sedilla in Holycross Abbey, Co. Tipperary, is decorated with well-executed carvings of leaf patterns.
Crests of the kings of England
Butler family crest
Cusped arches
Canopy
Foliage patterns
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NEW APPRECIATING ART IRELAND AND ITS PLACE IN THE WIDER WORLD
