PDX Famine Cross sculptor dies in Ireland

Aug 13

Brendan McGloin, the self-taught Irish sculptor who created a replica of one of Ireland’s most famous High Crosses for the Oregon Potato Famine Memorial at Portland’s Mt. Calvary cemetery, passed away in April after a long bout with cancer. He was 56.

*Brendan McGloin at the Oregon Potato Famine Memorial in 2013. Right - The replica of the Cross of the Scriptures at Clonmacnois sculpted by McGloin includes 70 unique panels.*

McGloin died at home in Kinlough, Co. Limerick, on April 4 surrounded by his wife Allie, his four children, family and friends. The Oncology Staff at the hospital where he was treated was singled out for praise from the family, “We wish to express our sincere thanks to Dr. Andrew Hodgson, Geraldine Walpole, and all the staff of Sligo University Hospital, where Brendan will be sorely missed,” they said. “Thank you for the decade of support, love, and kindness you showed him.”

McGloin was commissioned by what was then the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Portland to construct the replica of the Cross of the Scriptures in 2004 following a fundraising drive.

"We wanted a memorial which would make visitors reflect not only on the potato famine, but also what was and is great about Ireland," Hibernian David O’Longaigh told the Irish Times in February 2005.

Brendan McGloin, (center with a beard, travelled to Portland for the dedication of the Cross on December 13, 2008. Seen here at Kells with members of the AOH including David O'Longaigh (third from right).

By the time McGloin completed his work in Bundoran and the Cross was shipped to Portland, it was 2008. McGloin's work had been delayed in May 2006 when he injured his back while moving the base of the Cross. The Cross was dedicated on Dec. 13 of that year by Mary McAleese, President of Ireland from 1997 to 2011.

"My God, what have I done?"

“This s the first time anything of this magnitude has been done or attempted, to recreate a Ninth Century High Cross,” McGloin told Irish broadcaster RTE twenty years ago. “The reality of it really struck me when I went to Clonmacnois (location of the original Cross of the Scriptures). When I walked into the center where they have the Cross housed now, I thought ‘My God, what have I done. This is huge. This is a lot of work.”

*The original Cross of the Scriptures at Clonmacnois, Co. Offaly- October 2024. (Photo by Tim Hennessy)*

McGloin’s replica matches the dimensions of the original, which was carved more than 1100 years ago. It is 14-feet tall and weighs 5 tons. It is sculpted from Donegal sandstone and no electrical tools were used by McGloin, just the same ones the original sculptors would have used.

“Yeah, no machines have been used in this process because the brief kind of stated that the cross be carved as authentically as it could be. My lifting equipment is all manual. Not having the resources for machinery and forklifts kind of confined me to using these ancient old ways of lifting and moving,” McGloin told RTE.

“People say you’ve got great patience but this isn’t about patience. It’s about endurance. It’s about discipline. It’s about the love of the work. So, I’ll crack on with this and go for a surf later.”

McGloin was an avid surfer and for a while lived and worked in the surfing capital of Ireland, Bundoran in Co. Donegal. It’s there that you’ll find one of his best known works.