A village community in north Tipperary is to erect a large 60-foot cross to commemorate the millennium. The cross, which weighs in excess of four tonnes, will be located on Cloneybrien Hill near Portroe, outside Nenagh during the coming weeks.
The Cloneybrien Cross which is made of stainless steel will replace a cross built for the Eucharistic Congress of 1932 - which was destroyed by lightning in 1945. In those days local people carried tonnes of gravel and other building materials up the slopes of Cloneybrien Hill to erect the cross.
"This is a fitting memorial to the people of the past who undertook the massive task of putting the original cross on the hill," said Mr Jim Ryan, who has pioneered efforts to erect the new cross on Cloneybrien Hill. "This cross is a reminder of the millennium, the birth of Our Lord and of the Eucharistic Congress of 1932," he added.
Locals were granted planning permission recently by North Tipperary County Council to erect the cross. The Cloneybrien Cross project received funds from the Government's Millennium Committee.
Mr David Daly, director of D-FAB, a stainless steel fabrication company based in Nenagh, is constructing the cross. "You would not get too many orders the likes of this. It could be compared to the millennium spike in Dublin. I have never seen anything like this, and I doubt if I will see it again."