But tucked into the north transept of the ruined cathedral there is a fragment that spent decades overlooked in a different sense entirely, sitting in the graveyard soil before anyone thought to bring it inside. It is only a portion of a once-complete ringed cross, the upper shaft and the lower arc of the ring, yet what survives is intricately carved and quietly absorbing.

The fragment was found in the graveyard around 1954, according to the art historian de Paor, writing in 1955, who noted it had been mounted in the ruined chancel shortly after its discovery. By around 2006 it had been moved again, this time into the sheltered corner of the north transept, sometimes called the sacristy, to protect it from further weathering. The shaft is rectangular and tapers slightly, with plain undecorated sides. The carving is concentrated on the two main faces. One carries interlacing that forms circular devices, above which a segment of ring interlace suggests how the decoration would once have continued around the full head of the cross. The other face is divided into square panels of interlace, each panel itself subdivided into four smaller sections, with a band of thick-banded interlace below and roll-mouldings running along the corners. These details were catalogued by Peter Harbison in his 1992 corpus of Irish high crosses. A ringed cross, for those less familiar with the form, is the type often called a Celtic cross, where a circle connects the arms of the cross; the ring here survives only as a fragmentary curve, but it is enough to confirm the original form.

The fragment sits close to the north wall of the transept, which means the more elaborately carved face now looks toward that wall rather than outward. Visitors to Kilfenora Cathedral, which is freely accessible as a national monument in state care, will find it requires a moment of deliberate looking to appreciate both faces properly.