Measuring roughly 0.8 metres by 0.6 metres, it appears to have been salvaged from a chest tomb, a box-shaped raised grave monument common among prosperous families in medieval and early modern Ireland, and repurposed as building material when a cross wall was constructed in 1804 to link the south-west side of the church with the graveyard boundary.

The panel is far more than a stray fragment. It carries the Rothe family armorial shield, incorporating the coats-of-arms of three associated families: the Warings, the Chamberlains, and the Archers. Below the shield, a motto in Latin black letter script reads VIRTUTE NON VI, meaning "by virtue, not force", rendered in false relief, a technique where lettering is made to appear raised by cutting away the surrounding surface rather than carving the letters themselves proud. At the base, an incised inscription in English Roman lettering, probably added at a later stage than the main carving, reads: "Here lies ye body of John Roth", though the text trails off from there. The Rothe family were among the most prominent merchant dynasties in Kilkenny, and the convergence of four family arms on a single panel points to a web of strategic alliances typical of the town's Anglo-Norman merchant class.

The panel sits in the wall more or less in plain sight, though it is easy to pass without recognising what it is. The 1804 wall that houses it is functional and unremarkable at a glance, which makes the quality of the heraldic carving, still legible despite its secondary setting, unexpectedly striking when you do stop to look.