Only the upper half survives, yet that is enough to make this medieval cross-slab worth seeking out. The surviving portion of a once-tapering stone, measuring 1.30 metres in length and up to 0.60 metres across, carries an incised fleur-de-lys cross, its cross-head enclosing a lozenge shape cut into the stone with quiet deliberation. Cross-slabs are grave markers or commemorative stones on which a cross design is carved directly into the face of the slab, rather than being cut as a free-standing form, and this example shows the kind of refined decorative vocabulary that travelled into Ireland from continental and Anglo-Norman stoneworking traditions.

The slab is thought to date from the thirteenth century, a period when Athy was developing as an Anglo-Norman settlement on the River Barrow. It was originally held in St. Michael's parish church in the town before being moved to the Athy Heritage Centre and Museum on Emily Square, where it is now kept. The relocation means the stone is protected and accessible rather than at risk in a busy ecclesiastical space, though it does sit somewhat removed from the church context that would once have given it meaning.

The Heritage Centre on Emily Square is the place to find it. The lozenge enclosed within the cross-head is a small detail worth looking at closely once you are there; it is the kind of deliberate geometry that suggests a carver working within a recognised formal tradition rather than improvising, and it rewards attention that a passing glance would not give it.