The cross was recovered from the main ecclesiastical complex on the north-eastern peak of Sceilg Mhichíl, the extraordinary island monastery off the coast of County Kerry where monks lived and prayed from around the sixth century onwards, clinging to a rock face some twelve kilometres out into the ocean.

The cross itself is modest in size, measuring just 48 centimetres long and 25 centimetres wide, with a thickness of only 5 centimetres. It has two short, rounded arms, each with a rounded angle cut underneath where arm meets shaft, and the shaft narrows slightly towards its lower end. The head of the cross is missing, which means the full original form can only be guessed at. What remains is now in the care of the Office of Public Works, held at the National Monuments Depot in Killarney. Small early stone crosses of this kind were common features of Irish monastic enclosures, sometimes used as grave markers, boundary indicators, or focal points for communal prayer within the monastic space. That this one came from the ecclesiastical complex at the summit of Sceilg Mhichíl gives it a particular weight, even in its incomplete and displaced state.