The village of Nobber in north Co Meath has found itself on the archaeological map after a chance discovery revealed it as the home of a previously unknown early Christian monastic settlement.
Eight high crosses as well as two grave slabs, which all date from around the 10th century, have been found in a small cemetery just off the main street.
They came to light during a clean up of the former graveyard by a local community group last summer; details of the discovery have only just been revealed.
According to Prof George Eoghan, the world's leading expert on Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, they are evidence of a monastic settlement "and are contemporaneous with the High Cross of Kells and with Monasterboice but the difference is that the ones in Nobber were hitherto unknown".
Known as the old Nobber graveyard it dates back around 1,500 years but the crosses, many of which are low high crosses and are just 2ft tall, date from around the 10th century, "because that is the period when this sculpture was made and erected and it really is quite a collection. In addition to the eight low high crosses, there are two grave slabs that would have been placed over graves," Prof Eoghan said.
He views them as field monuments and part of the artistic creativeness also associated with the early Christian times. He also revealed that three other grave slabs have been found which date from the late medieval period of the 15th century and this underlines the belief by archaeologists that Nobber was an important settlement for a number of years.
In the latest edition of Archaeology Ireland, Heather King, archaeologist with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, who specialises in early Christian sculpture said, "this collection puts Nobber on the map as one of the more important early medieval ecclesiastical sites in Meath, and the high cross fragments and the cross-slab in particular are more important additions to the corpus of stone carving in early medieval Ireland". Prof Eoghan believes they should remain in Nobber and this view was supported by Fine Gael TD Shane McEntee who said "they have put the village on Meath's heritage map and I hope the discovery will attract visitors".