placenamesFassaroe
An Fásach Rua
The cross on Fassaroe Lane survives more clearly than the history of the site around it.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- An Fásach Rua · Irish · main form
- Fassaroe · English · main form
Place & story
A distinctive carved cross
Fassaroe’s granite cross stands in a circular base beside Fassaroe Lane. Roger Stalley’s sculpture study draws attention to its disc-shaped head, whose arms remain within the circle. Its worn carving makes a firm date difficult, but he tentatively places it in the later twelfth century, perhaps around 1200. [2]
Testing the ground around it
Redmond Tobin’s archaeological testing in February 2002 found no associated features in six trenches east and west of the lane. He left two explanations open: the cross may have been moved, as antiquarian accounts suggest, or it may have marked the edge of consecrated land. The investigation did not establish a church at its present position. [3]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Fassaroe. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Fassaroe: Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, item15211 · Roger Stalley
- 2002:1967 – Fassaroe, licence02E0084 · Redmond Tobin, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2011-05-26. How this page was prepared.