AFTER two thwarted attempts - and possibly a bit of praying - a giant cross was yesterday erected in memory of the late Cardinal Basil Hume.

The largest cross in Britain, at 50ft high and four-and-a-half tonnes in weight, it was laboriously placed in position outside Ampleforth Abbey, North Yorkshire.

Basil Hume was a schoolboy at Ampleforth, later became a teacher there and eventually became abbot, until he became leader of England's Roman Catholics in 1976.

The cross, which for the past two years has stood outside Westminster Cathedral, will be a permanent memorial to the major role he played at Ampleforth and the RC Church.

It was originally to have been erected a week ago with the help of a powerful RAF Chinook helicopter, but adverse weather repeatedly hampered the operation.

Then it was to have been lifted into position on Monday by a huge crane, but on its way to Ampleforth from Bridlington the vehicle broke down, at Selby.

However, yesterday, the crane made it through to its destination and the cross, built by Dewsbury joinery company Kennedy Clayton was successfully winched into position and secured in place.

It now stands in a commanding position on a hillside below one of the college boarding houses, St Thomas's House.

To carry out the operation with the 80-tonne crane, the team of engineers first had to dig out as level access into the hillside to operate off the road and prevent the need for any road closure.