What it lacks in scale it makes up for in density of ornament. The surface is highly decorated, worked with the kind of careful attention that suggests this was never a utilitarian object but something made to carry weight, ceremonial or devotional, in a community that invested real skill in such things.

The cross was found on Inis Cealtra, a small island in Lough Derg on the River Shannon, during excavations carried out between 1970 and 1980 by the archaeologist Liam de Paor. It came from what the excavation designated Area 3, the zone around St Brigid's church and its surroundings. Inis Cealtra, sometimes called Holy Island, was a significant early medieval monastic site, and the area around St Brigid's church was clearly a focus of activity. The fragment's modest dimensions suggest it may have been a personal or altar cross rather than a free-standing monument, though without more of the object it is difficult to say with certainty. That it survived at all, and in enough detail to reward close examination, is partly a result of the care taken during those decade-long excavations.