This particular fragment, recovered from the main ecclesiastical complex on the north-eastern peak of Sceilg Mhichíl, measures just 38 centimetres in length and 28 centimetres across, and only three centimetres deep. What survives is a rounded head and a single arm with a gently curved lower angle; the second arm and almost the entire shaft are gone. What remains is essentially one quarter of a cross, small enough to hold in both hands.

Sceilg Mhichíl, the larger of the two Skellig rocks rising steeply from the Atlantic some twelve kilometres off the Kerry coast, was home to an early medieval monastery, probably founded sometime in the sixth or seventh century. The monks who lived there built dry-stone beehive cells and oratories on a series of terraces cut into the rock face, and it is within this remarkable cluster of structures that the cross fragment was found. Stone crosses and cross-slabs were common features of early Irish monastic settlements, sometimes marking graves, sometimes serving as focal points for prayer or procession. A fragment this small could have belonged to a free-standing cross or a carved slab; without the shaft and the opposing arm, it is difficult to say with certainty. The piece is now held at the National Monuments Depot in Killarney, in the care of the Office of Public Works, which manages the island as a national monument and UNESCO World Heritage Site.