Inside it stands a sandstone Latin cross, and what draws the eye immediately is the damage: the upper arm is broken, leaving the cross in a state of partial survival that raises more questions than the surrounding street can answer.

The cross is recorded under the Sites and Monuments Record reference DU023-023002- and was compiled by researchers Geraldine Stout and Padraig Clancy. Its measurements, modest by any standard, place it at 0.84 metres in length, 0.7 metres in width, and just 0.05 metres thick, making it a relatively slender slab. A Latin cross, as distinct from the ringed high crosses more commonly associated with early medieval Ireland, has a simple form: a vertical shaft intersected by a horizontal arm, without the encircling wheel. This one stands close to the north wall of the associated church remains, which suggests it occupied a position of some deliberate significance within the burial enclosure rather than being placed incidentally. The sandstone from which it is cut weathers unevenly, and the loss of the upper arm may be the result of centuries of exposure as much as any single event.

The graveyard is at the junction itself, so it is straightforward to locate, though its elevation above the road gives it a slightly removed quality, as if the site is being held at a slight distance from the ordinary movement of the street below. Visitors approaching on foot from Dalkey village centre will find the enclosing wall before the cross becomes visible. Once inside, the cross itself sits towards the north of the space, near the church remains. Given how compact the site is, very little of it is hidden from view, and the broken upper arm is immediately apparent once you are standing close to it.