It is only one quarter of what was once a complete decorated slab, and yet even in this reduced state it carries enough detail to suggest the ambition of the original design: a rectangular panel framed by a fret pattern, divided into four sections by a hollow-armed cross with a small wheel at its centre. Each of those four sections once held a circular medallion filled with further ornament. Only one survives intact, and the edge of a second is just visible. The surviving medallion is heavily weathered but appears to carry a fret or swastika-like motif, the kind of interlocking geometric device common in early medieval Irish stonework, where such patterns were used to fill and animate carved surfaces rather than carry specific symbolic meaning.

The slab was recovered during the 1980s from the graveyard of Gallen Priory in County Offaly. Gallen was an early monastic site with a long history, and its graveyard has yielded a number of carved stones over the years, several of them now dispersed or rehoused. How this particular fragment came to be associated with Newtown in County Dublin is not recorded in the available notes, but the journey itself, from an Offaly monastic graveyard to a Dublin barony, is a reminder of how often early medieval stonework has moved far from its original context, sometimes through deliberate collection, sometimes through less documented routes. The record was compiled by Paul Walsh and uploaded in November 2011.

The fragment is small enough to be easily overlooked, and its condition means the carved detail requires close attention and good light to read properly. The fret patterning on the surviving cross member is the clearest element; the circular medallion, though present, demands patience from anyone trying to make out its motif through the weathering. Anyone with a particular interest in early medieval Irish carved stonework, or in the wider dispersal of material from Gallen Priory, would benefit from consulting the associated Offaly record, referenced as OF014-029029, alongside this Dublin entry.