The effigy dates to the thirteenth century, depicts what appears to be a civilian, possibly male, and has been missing its head for long enough that no record seems to explain the loss. It shares the crypt with a collection of later monuments from the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, and the crypt itself may be the only surviving fabric from before 1700. The building above it is an eighteenth-century replacement. The medieval church is gone.

The site has an unusually long documentary trail. The church of Holy Trinity was listed among the possessions of the diocese of Cork in a decretal letter, a formal papal communication, dated 1199, making it one of the better-attested medieval parishes in the city. A map drawn by Hardiman around 1601 shows a substantial structure: a nave with north and south aisles and a square tower at the west end. That building was demolished in 1717, and the present church was constructed in 1720. Whatever architectural detail or carved stonework the medieval building may have contained above ground did not survive the demolition. The crypt alone retained some continuity, and with it the cluster of monuments that now represent several centuries of Cork's funerary culture in a single underground room.

The crypt today houses the Cork Archives Institute, which gives the space an ongoing working purpose that sits at an odd angle to its original function. Visitors interested in the medieval effigy or the earlier monuments would need to make arrangements accordingly, as the space operates as an archive rather than as an open heritage site.