Iconic Cork City cross falls from church during high winds 

Last month, people in the community had noticed the cross was beginning to tilt.

The cross missing from the Church of the Ascension. Picture: Tony Fitzgerald/Twitter

The iconic cross that sat atop the Church of the Ascension on the northside of Cork City has fallen overnight.

The cross had been damaged during the high winds of Storm Franklin and it had been left tilting.

Scaffolding had been due to go up yesterday at the Gurranabraher church to assess the damage that last month's storm had caused.

Fr Tom Walsh, a parish priest at the church, said that yesterday's "ferocious" winds contributed to the cross falling.

The 15ft cross had been in place since the early 1960s. It looked down on Cork city centre and its light was visible from most parts of the city come dark.

The area below the cross had been cordoned off for the past three weeks, and it fell in that area meaning there were no injuries.

Fr Walsh said that when the cross tilted over originally they couldn't assess how dangerous it was until the scaffolding went up.

"It was only then we'd have understood fully the picture of what needed to be done."

When the cross fell last night, Fr Walsh said that "a good bit of damage" had been done to a small portion of the roof.

The roof had only been replaced prior to the pandemic at a cost of around €600,000.

The cross on the Church of the Ascension, Gurranabraher, last month. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Fr Walsh told the Irish Examiner that engineers were on site this morning assessing the damage.

He confirmed that the cross had also been destroyed in the fall, stating: "It's just debris on the ground at the moment."

The church had been confident that they could get the cross upright and lighting up the Cork City skyline again but Fr Walsh said: "This is a kind of new ball game now."

The cost of replacing it will have to be assessed over the coming days, he added.

"It was an iconic symbol dangling from the sky in the night. My own hope would be that it will go back up and it will light up the city of Cork again at night."

Last month, efforts to try and restore the cross had commenced. An online fundraiser had been set up by parishioners to try and fix it.

Local councillor Tony Fitzgerald said that while thankfully no one was injured, the cross being destroyed is a blow to the parishioners.

"We've lost an iconic landmark of the city."