Measuring just 0.62 metres high and 0.43 metres wide, it was found resting on the western side of a leacht, a type of low cairn or stone mound associated with early Christian devotional practice, often used as a focus for prayer or commemoration. One of its faces carries an inscription that may depict a cross, though the reading remains uncertain enough that scholars have stopped short of a firm identification.

The cross belongs to the broader ecclesiastical complex at Kilmalkedar, known in Irish as Cill Maoilchéadair, a site with roots in the Early Christian period that continued in use through the medieval centuries. The complex sits at the foot of the western slopes of Reenconnell hill, sheltered to the north and south by spurs of the same ridge, which peaks at 907 feet above sea level to the north-east. The land falls away westward towards Smerwick Harbour, placing the site within a landscape that has been used for religious and funerary purposes for well over a millennium. The cross was documented by J. Cuppage in the 1986 archaeological survey of the Corca Dhuibhne region, a comprehensive study of the Dingle Peninsula that brought together a remarkable concentration of early medieval monuments found along this stretch of the western seaboard.