This granite cross stands at the entrance of the graveyard that surrounds the old St. Canice's church.
Originally it would have stood to the northeast of the graveyard where the new St. Canice's church has been built. It was buried in 1649 to protect them from the attacks of the Cromwell's army and it was unearthed, repaired and re-erected in 1816 by Mr. Walsh, antiquarian curate of St. Canice's.
The cross is 2.20 metres tall and stands on a granite base which is 1.07 metres high, and 80 centimetres by 86 centimetres in plan, for a total height of 3.27 metres. The shaft is 25 centimetres thick and its arms open at 1.55 metres. The face to the east (75°) has a plain decoration of a wheeled cross.
I think that the original cross could have been a little higher. The tenon and mortise kind of joint halfway in the shaft was probably done during the restoration works and this has clearly shortened the shaft, I presume, by the length of the joint. The two sections of the cross were then kept together with some concrete.
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