What makes this one worth attention is the detail that survived the damage: on one face, a carved crucifixion scene, and on the other, an intricate pattern of knotwork, both preserved on a fragment of limestone measuring roughly half a metre in each direction. This is the kind of object that repays close looking, not because it is complete, but precisely because it is not.

The cross head was uncovered in 1985 during an archaeological excavation immediately outside the east gable of Teaghlach Éinne, the early ecclesiastical site at Cill Éinne on Inis Mór. Teaghlach Éinne, meaning the household or family of Éinne, refers to the monastic enclosure associated with Saint Enda, one of the most significant figures in early Irish Christianity, credited with establishing one of the island's earliest and most influential monastic communities. The cross itself is a ringed high cross in form, or rather the head of one. High crosses, typically large free-standing stone crosses with a distinctive ring connecting the arms, were produced across Ireland from roughly the eighth century onwards, often bearing biblical scenes and elaborate geometric ornament. The deep cusps where the arms meet the ring are characteristic of the type. Whether the shaft ever survived, or whether it was lost long before 1985, is not recorded. The excavation that brought the head to light was documented by Manning, whose 1985 publication described and illustrated the piece in detail.