PLEASE RECOMMEND THIS WEBSITE ON TO OTHERS

©Copy Right Notice 1997-2006

©The Author, Crichton E M Miller, reserves all rights under the Patents and Copy right acts to be recognised as the author,  discoverer and originator of this work.

Contact Information

Firstly let me show you what my friend and fellow researcher Maureen Palmer said on her recent visit to Ireland:

"The attached photo (Fig 1) is what they call a Cross Slab. The photo was taken at Ardfert Cathedral (Ard Fertu) meaning the height of the burial mounds. The ruins of the Cathedral has just been partly restored and was built on an earlier monastic site dedicated to St. Brendan 'The Navigator' who is accredited with sailing to America from the West Coast of Ireland long before Columbus. Not much is known about the earlier site only that over two thousand medieval burials were excavated and some of the burials had been aligned to an earlier structure. The Cross Slab was found in the oldest level which has not yet been properly excavated and the stones were locked in an enclosure, I had to make special arrangements to go back out of hours and get inside. Inside the Cathedral there are some exhibition boards of the site during the various periods of restoration and a photo of the Cross Slab. The note underneath it just said pre-historic, 'perhaps used as a boundary marker'. Whilst I was inside the enclosure which houses the stones I noticed another one leaning against the wall. The girl who had let us in told me it was the same period as the Cross Slab, but I noticed this one has the circle both top and bottom. (Fig 2) Let me know what you make of it".

The Cross slab Figure 1 Another image of a prehistoric cross, from Ardfert, Ireland. This is not ornate, but represents a workman like instrument. Its staff is long enough to allow an observer to kneel when looking at stars that are high in the sky while keeping his eye to the cross bar.	The Double Cross Figure 2 This remarkable pre Christian and by their own admission prehistoric Irish Cross with double ends shows the angles formed by the equinoxes as seen in later Cross Pattees and as shown in the picture of St Brendan's ships sails at the start of this page. St Brendan was charismatic because he preached the new word of Christ's message of love and oneness in conjuction with his recent ancestors deep knowledge of astronomy, nature and the cycles of Time	St Brendan Look at the sails on this picture of St Brendan and notice the celtic cross designs. He holds his ship while around is head is the halo of a saint. The halo represents cosmic knowledge and the wisdom of the heavens.	Brendan the Navigator by Jean Fritz Puffin Books 1999 Here is a book for children written by Jean Fritz The book cover shows St Brendan in his ship on the voyage to America. On the bow he navigates with the Celtic cross. Of course Jean Fritz didn't know that that was what the cross was for, but the artist knew it subliminaly. I hope it inspires the children who read it to open their minds and question everything. For it was Jesus Christ who said "Be as Children"

©2002 Photographs by kind permission of Maureen Palmer

Brendan the Navigator is a legend amongst the Irish and Celtic people for many reasons.

There are many  who would like to see more evidence that the transatlantic voyages of St Brendan could be more than just exaggerated stories.

The current academic position against such a voyage of discovery 900 years before Christopher Columbus rests solely of the presumption that St Brendan, like earlier potential transatlantic voyagers, had no knowledge of the fundamentals of navigation.

There can be little argument about the other side of the technology required, which is a substantial and seaworthy enough craft to make the voyage.

This point was proved when voyage in the footsteps of St Brendan, was made by Tim Severin in 1977.

To fulfil the 'The Brendan Voyage", Tim Severin successfully built a Curragh, faithful to the construction methods of 6^th century shipwrights and sailed across the Atlantic proving that the journey could have been done in principle.

So, there only remains the question of navigation, since motivation is clearly shown.

As far as this article is concerned I intend to show, in combination with my earlier discovery that the Celtic cross was a working navigational instrument, that the legends of St Brendan crossing the Atlantic to America hold considerable potential for truth.

That it is highly likely that St Brendan understood the cross and plumb line for its true value using it in combination with the more ancient knowledge of our earlier ancestors.

That this discovery was either esoteric in origin or that he discovered this knowledge from the prehistoric mounds at Ardfert where he chose to locate his Monastery.

Ard Fertu means the height of the burial mounds.

Ardfert cathedral is built on the earlier monastic site dedicated to St Brendan and is in the process of being restored.

Not much is known about the earlier site only that over two thousand medieval burials were excavated and some of the burials had been aligned to an earlier structure.

Brendan was born in Ciarraighe Luachra, in County Kerry, Ireland in 484 AD and grew up by the sea.

He was a charismatic leader and gained many followers, which resulted in the founding of monastic communities along the West Coast of Ireland over a period of some 30 years.

What is not generally understood, is that in the days of St Brendan, there were very few roads.

This was in the early days of the conversion of "Pagans" to Christianity by the Holy Roman Empire.

The lack of safe overland routes made travelling by land a very difficult and sometimes hazardous affair.

The way in which people travelled around and traded, in ancient times, was by sea.

That is why most major settlements were by river estuaries and still are to this day.

Evidence of this can be seen through the monastic sites that Brendan was associated with being located close to the River Shannon.

Brendan is known to have visited Iona in Scotland, France and Wales in his voyages.

He started Monasteries in Scotland in locations, by the water, near the sites of more ancient standing stones at Kilbrandon and Kilbrennan Sound.

Of his spiritual power and Missionary zeal, there can be no doubt.

This is shown by the expansion of religious houses to accommodate pilgrims throughout Ireland.

St Brendan the Navigator’s most celebrated foundation was Clonfert in County Galway. He died in 577AD in sister Briga’s convent at Enachduin, now known as Annaghdown.

His grave faces the front door of the Cathedral in Clonfert.

'Navigatio Sancti Brendani' was an account written by an Irish monk in the ninth or tenth century and describes the seven year voyage of Saint Brendan. More than 100 medieval Latin manuscripts of the Voyage of Brendan still exist today.

St Brendan was known to have met St Columba and to have voyaged to France with St Malo.

The ancient French seafaring port of St Malo is named after the Welsh Saint and is the birth place of Jacques Cartier who was the first European reputed to land in Canada in 1534AD.

St Brendan set forth on a voyage to find the Blessed Islands, a myth even in his time, They were looking for the Promised Land, a fabled place of plenty beyond the western horizon.

I believe that these ancient legends came from the earlier sea voyaging "Celtic" peoples.

Such legends may be seen in the funerary culture of Ancient Egypt thousands of years earlier.

There are varying accounts of between 60 and 150 monks accompanying St Brendan on this hazardous voyage and the many accounts of their amazing adventures are well documented.

Now, It is said that there is no smoke without fire and there is considerable evidence of prehistoric artefacts in America and the British Isles that are similar in design that bear out the possibility that St Brendan inherited his knowledge and skills from his ancient ancestors and probably made it across the Atlantic with the working Celtic cross as his navigation instrument.

There are many courageous historians who have suggested that the Ancient peoples of the British Isles gained their knowledge from Egyptian or Phoenician sailors who traded for tin and other commodities long before written history.

To see the uses of the principles of the cross and plumb line and the constellations of the zodiacs visit the work on the greatest users of astronomy and astrology the world has ever seen.

Deep in the seventh wonder of the world is the evidence of a working cross that has been overlooked by archaeologists and historians and misunderstood by great Victorian astronomers.

©Copy Right Notice 1997-2004

©The Author, Crichton E M Miller, reserves all rights under the Patents and Copy right acts to be recognised as the author of this work.

If you think this work which is given freely and not for profit may be of interest to others, please recommend this website

www.crichtonmiller.com