It is barely half a metre tall and a quarter of a metre wide, yet every surface has been worked: heraldic shields, winged figures, foliage, and a damaged religious scene compete for attention on a piece of stone you could almost carry under one arm. That combination of secular heraldry and devotional imagery on a single modest pillar is unusual enough to warrant a closer look.

Two of the four faces carry heater-shaped shields, the triangular form familiar from medieval armorial bearings. One displays a Butler device: a chief indented, meaning a horizontal band at the top of the shield with a zigzag lower edge, a motif associated with the powerful Butler dynasty who were significant patrons of Franciscan foundations in Tipperary. This shield rests on the head of a winged figure shown in the orans posture, arms raised in the early Christian gesture of prayer. The second shield is divided per saltire, that is, quartered diagonally rather than vertically or horizontally, and carries ermine tails distributed across its sections, again supported by a similar winged figure beneath. The third face is given over entirely to a symmetrical vine-scroll, a carved pattern of interlacing foliage common in medieval ecclesiastical decoration. The fourth face bears a Pietà, the image of the Virgin holding the body of Christ after the Crucifixion, though this carving is now poorly preserved, and above it sits additional work too damaged to interpret with any confidence.