Its original home was Sceilg Mhichíl, the remote pinnacle of rock rising from the Atlantic off the Kerry coast, where early medieval monks built one of the most austere monastic settlements in the Christian world. That it is now in a county depot rather than on the island is itself a quiet indicator of how fragile such objects are when exposed to centuries of salt wind and the attentions of visitors.

The cross is modest in its dimensions: 0.42 metres long, 0.21 metres wide, and just four centimetres thick. One arm survives with a rounded lower angle; the other has been reduced to a stump. The head is rounded rather than pointed, and the shaft remains largely intact, which for an object of this age and origin is more than might be expected. Stone crosses of this kind were a fundamental feature of early Irish monastic sites, used as grave markers, boundary indicators, or focal points for prayer, and the community on Sceilg Mhichíl produced several. Removed from the island at some point and transferred to the care of the Office of Public Works, this particular piece is now held at their National Monuments Depot in Killarney, catalogued under the reference for its original location on Sceilg Mhichíl.