Fears over crack in historic Ardboe cross

A COOKSTOWN councillor has called for Mid Ulster District Council to ensure the Ardboe High Cross is protected from further damage after receiving worrying reports of a crack in the cross.

Speaking at a meeting of the council’s development committee on Wednesday, December 8, Councillor John McNamee told the chamber he had been contacted by a concerned resident regarding the condition of the 10th Century monument.

At 18.5 ft (5.6m) the Ardboe High Cross is Northern Ireland’s tallest cross and despite some damage, seems to be the only such cross in Northern Ireland to remain largely complete and original.

“I just want to ask a question about the Ardboe cross,” said Cllr McNamee.

“Somebody brought it to my attention in the past couple of weeks that they have seen a crack on the cross like a circle going around the cross and they were a bit concerned about it. Is there anything further being done to ensure the long term protection of the cross.”

Council’s head of arts and cultural services, Tony McCance said he was aware there was an ongoing issue at that location in terms of deterioration and confirmed he will ask the Historic Environment Division (HED) to take another look at the monument.

“Historic Environment Division is well aware of the ongoing scenario but I am not sure if they are aware of this crack in question,” he said.

“Certainly, we can have an engagement with the HED to come down and do another inspection. I would imagine since the outbreak of Covid-19 there has not been any inspections of the monument.

“If the members are happy we will engage with HED to get a site visit and see what the current situation is with the cross.”

Councillor John McNamee said he was “happy enough” with this proposal and advised he would not want to see “a cross like that fall any further into disrepair”.