- Address: Fassaroe, Co. Wicklow
The Fassaroe Cross (also known as the St Valery's Cross) is a 12th century high cross found in the Fassaroe area of Bray. It is one of 3 crosses of its kind scattered around the Wicklow/Dublin border region with one being in Rathmicheal Woods and the other at Tully Church in Laughanstown.
The one in Fassaroe is the tallest of the 3 standing at roughly 4.7ft tall. It is constructed of granite with a band of quartz. It and the surrounding area is relatively unknown.
History of St Valerie 1750 -1920.
St Valerie (aka Fassaroe Cross) overlooks the Dargle River and is located between the Enniskerry Road and the slip road off the N11 leading to Fassaroe. Close to St Valery's Cross. Over the years various spelling of St Valerie have appeared including St Vallerie, St Valori, St Vallery.
Persons to live at St Valerie during the period include the following families Walker, Crampton, Johnstone, Adams, Mc Donnell, Hornidge, West and Barlow. There was also many visitors including tour writer, Anne Plumtree, artists Henry McManus and even Sir Walter Scott.
Joseph Cooper Walker a famous Irish bard died there in 1810 some records show he was born at St Valerie. His father Thomas was a Cabinet maker in Dublin. When Joseph died the property passed to brother Samuel who had married Frances Crampton about 1823 the property passed to Judge Philip Cecil Crampton a judge of the Queens Bench in Dublin. Another writer to died at St Valerie was Jane Barlow. The secretary of the Bray Athletic Club Harold William Adams lived at St Valerie in 1875.
In 1823 Judge Crampton got Richard and William V, Morrisson to design a new house to replace the existing house. A profile of the House appears on Heffernan's Map of 1870. Judge Crampton established a school for the poor of the district close to his home.
Judge Crampton was a staunch supporter of the temperance movement and he poured the contents of the wine cellar into the Dargle River.
John Bruce the gardener at St Valerie was on the committee of the Royal Horticultural Improvement Society of Ireland.
In the National Library there is a print from St Valerie overlooking the Dargle and what is now the N11. A close look at the picture will show the stagecoach and a lone horseman.