The present cathedral must stand on or near the pre-Norman ecclesiastical site, associated with St Colmán, and the cross survives from this early activity. An inscription on the shaft records how it was re-erected in 1887, with much of the shaft and part of the head restored, after use elsewhere in the town as a market cross and the base of the town stocks. The head has an unperforated ring. Even in its fragmentary and weathered condition, it is possible to appreciate the impressive scale of the cross and the delicacy of the decorated panels on its shaft, worked in the hard granite. It is difficult to date this cross, but the form and decoration suggest that a 9th-century date is possible. A cross-carved boulder, known as St Colmán’s Pillow, also probably from the early church, is now kept in the cathedral chancel.
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