
This High Cross formerly stood in the village of Bealin, County Westmeath but seemingly was moved a short distance to its present location by the Handcock family who owned the local Twyford estate. However, Bealin may not have been its original location, as it carries an inscription that reads OROIT AR TUATHGALL LAS DERNATH IN CHROSSA (‘A Prayer for Tuathgal who caused this cross to be made’). Tuathgal was an abbot of the monastery at Clonmacnoise, County Offaly who died in 811, suggesting that the cross came from that site. While much of the cross is covered in the customary Celtic knot pattern, one side features a lion at the bottom and the other a hunting scene with a horseman and spear, and a dog biting the leg of a deer. Unfortunately, the cross’s present position, in the middle of boggy fields above Bealin village, makes it difficult to visit and examine.

