The two sections of the cross did not originally belong together; they are separate pieces, brought into combination at some point in their history, and the cross now standing is in some sense a composite, a reassembled object whose original wholeness was something else entirely.

The cross's original position is believed to have been close to the site's round tower, the kind of tall, tapered stone structure associated with early medieval Irish monasteries, used variously as bell towers, places of refuge, and markers of ecclesiastical importance. Its relocation to the Diamond, the open central space typical of Ulster plantation-era towns, means it now stands in a context quite different from the one it was carved for. The decoration across its faces amounts to a compressed programme of biblical narrative. The west face carries Old Testament scenes, Adam and Eve, the Sacrifice of Isaac, and Daniel in the Den of Lions, while the east face moves through the New Testament, the Adoration of the Magi, the Marriage Feast at Cana, the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, and the Crucifixion. A further carving records Christ in Glory on the south face. The two lateral sides are given over to geometric ornament and raised bosses, the kind of interlace and abstract patterning that appears widely on Irish high crosses and connects this monument to a broader early medieval carving tradition. The cross is discussed by Peter Harbison in his 1992 corpus of Irish high crosses.