What makes it stranger still is that part of what may be its original shaft is cemented into a graveyard wall at Clonmacnoise, Co. Offaly, decorative interlace and all, while the head itself sits in Dublin. The two fragments have never been formally reunited, and may never be.

The cross-head originated at Durrow, Co. Offaly, the site of an early medieval monastery founded, by tradition, by St Columba. For an unknown stretch of centuries, the sandstone head sat atop the gable of a disused Protestant church east of the main Durrow cross. It fell to the ground in the late 1950s, was placed on a base south of the church, and was then removed in 1974 to the grounds of Durrow Abbey, where the old monastic site lies. At some point after that it was acquired by the National Museum of Ireland, where it is now held. The cross-head measures 43cm high and 68cm across the arms, and the lower shaft survives to a maximum width of about 20cm. The arms flare noticeably at their ends, and it seems the cross never had the ring that characterises many Irish high crosses. Scholar Peter Harbison, whose 1992 catalogue remains the standard reference on the subject, identified two carved scenes. On the east face, a figure holding a crook, possibly accompanied by a sheep with a turned-back head and an angel overhead, is interpreted as David as Shepherd. The west face shows the Crucifixion: Christ in a tight-fitting garment with arms outstretched, flanked by the busts of Stephaton and Longinus, the soldiers present at the cross, though neither carries his usual attribute. At the ends of the arms, whirls give rise to serpent-headed animals, and above Christ's head a bird flies upwards to the left.

The cross-head is held in the collection of the National Museum of Ireland, whose main archaeology branch is on Kildare Street in Dublin city centre. The museum does not charge admission. Whether the fragment cemented into the graveyard wall at Clonmacnoise belongs to the same cross remains unconfirmed, but if you visit Clonmacnoise, the wall in question is at the south end of the west side of the graveyard, and the interlace decoration is visible on its exposed face. The two pieces are separated by roughly 130 kilometres and, for now at least, by scholarly uncertainty.