What emerged was a finely worked tapering slab, nearly two metres long, carved with a raised floriated cross, meaning a cross whose arms terminate in stylised flower or leaf forms. A circle marks the centre where the arms intersect, and the shaft ends in a small fleur-de-lys. The top edge of the slab is chamfered, cut at an angle, giving the stonework a precise, deliberate finish that speaks to the skill of whoever produced it.

The slab is associated with the medieval church of Newtown Earley and is thought, on stylistic grounds, to date from the thirteenth or fourteenth century. That period saw considerable activity in the production of carved grave markers across Leinster, often commissioned for members of local ecclesiastical or landowning communities. Exactly who this slab once covered is not recorded. It was documented by R. Harte in a 1987 article in the Old Kilkenny Review, which catalogued a number of tombstones from the Newtown Earley site. The slab now lies within the church itself, sheltered from further weathering but still carrying the same carved geometry it has borne for seven centuries.