Carved from a single piece of stone into an octagonal form, measuring just 28 centimetres across and 32 centimetres high, it is decorated on each of its eight panels with an incised quatrefoil, a symmetrical four-lobed motif common in medieval ecclesiastical carving. What makes it quietly unusual is its journey: it was first recorded sitting in the south-east corner of a graveyard to the east of an Augustinian priory at Bunacum, accompanied by the remnants of an octagonal column and base that once supported it. At some point it was moved indoors, and it now stands close to the altar of the local Roman Catholic church.

The Augustinian priory with which this font is associated gives some sense of the religious landscape it emerged from. The Augustinian friars, who followed the Rule of Saint Augustine, established numerous houses across medieval Ireland, and their sites frequently became focal points for local devotion long after the communities themselves dissolved. A baptismal font, used for the administration of baptism and typically placed near the entrance of a church, would have been among the most practically significant objects in any such foundation. The octagonal shape is itself meaningful in a liturgical context, the number eight carrying symbolic associations with resurrection and new life in Christian tradition, which made it a recurring choice for font design across medieval Europe. The fragment of column beside the original outdoor location suggests the font once stood at a considerable height, presented formally rather than simply resting on the ground.