What emerged was the wheeled head of a high cross, the type of ringed stone cross closely associated with early Christian and medieval Ireland, carved from sandstone and measuring roughly 65 centimetres across. It had been lying undisturbed, probably for centuries, at a spot on or very close to the site of St John's Priory.

The fragment dates to the late twelfth or thirteenth century, placing it within a period of significant ecclesiastical activity in Tuam, which served as an important archiepiscopal centre throughout the medieval period. Despite its age, the craftsmanship is notably uneven. Decoration survives on one face only, and even there it has been partly lost to flaking. What remains shows thick, irregular rings on each arm of the cross head, interwoven with interlaced lines that are described as thinly executed and crude. This is not the polished geometric precision associated with the great scripture crosses of earlier centuries; it is something rougher and more local, which makes it in some ways more interesting. The person or workshop that carved it was working within a recognisable tradition but with considerably less technical fluency than the masters of that form. Scholar Etienne Rynne examined and documented the piece, and his analysis from 1986 remains the primary record of the object.