One of them carries, on its west face, faint traces of a three-sided outline square carved at the point where the arms meet the shaft. It is a minor mark, easy to miss, and its purpose is not entirely clear, which is part of what makes it interesting.

Kilmalkedar, known in Irish as Cill Maoilchéadair, is one of the most significant early Christian and medieval religious sites in Munster. The complex sits at the foot of the western slopes of Reenconnell hill, sheltered on its northern and southern sides by spurs of the same ridge, which peaks at 907 feet. To the west, the ground opens out towards Smerwick Harbour. The setting is deliberate; early monastic communities favoured naturally sheltered ground, and the topography here would have offered some protection from Atlantic weather while keeping the site accessible from the old pilgrim routes that crossed the peninsula. The two small stone crosses belong to this broader assembly of carved and inscribed stones for which Kilmalkedar is well known, a tradition of working in stone that stretches from the early medieval period through to the later church buildings on the site.