The wonderful Bealin cross is well hidden in the countryside east of Athlone.
We drove to the end of a country road, but we had to ask some locals to spot it. It's behind the ridge of a 30 metres high hill, in a field protected with the barbed wire.
The cross stands on a wide stone base protected by a metal fence. It once stood in Bealin and was erected around 800 by Tuathgal, an abbot of the monastery in Clonmacnoise.
It's richly decorated with geometric patterns, animal figures and a hunting scene.
It's 2.05 metres tall, 35 centimetres wide, 28 centimetres thick and the arms of the cross are 1.08 metres wide.
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