The mitre on his head and the collar of his robe are still legible, but the face itself has been softened to near-abstraction by centuries of weathering. His ears are pressed flat against the stone, and the face of the block is cut with fine fluting. It is easy to walk past without noticing it at all.

The fragment is one of three decorated capitals bearing carved heads, all believed to have come from Emly's former cathedral, a building that no longer stands. Emly was once a place of considerable ecclesiastical importance, the seat of one of Munster's oldest bishoprics, traditionally associated with Saint Ailbe, who is said to have brought Christianity to the region before the arrival of Patrick. The diocese of Emly was eventually united with Cashel in the twelfth century, and the cathedral itself was later destroyed, leaving only scattered fragments behind. This particular piece may have originally served as a window stop or as a decorative feature at the apex of a window opening, a carved capital being the block that caps a column or moulding and often carried ornamental or figurative work in Romanesque and medieval church architecture. That a bishop's head was chosen for such a position is fitting enough, though whether it represents a specific individual or a generalised type is impossible to say now that the facial details have eroded so completely.

The stone sits in the wall near the east gable of the present church, where the yard boundary meets the building. The other two related carved capitals are recorded nearby, making this a small cluster of salvaged medieval stonework absorbed quietly into a later ecclesiastical landscape.