It may be associated with a nunnery which Hilda of Whitby founded in the village in about 680, and might have stood in a side-valley known as Crossdales.
The cross was later dismantled; local legend claims that it was thrown into the village pond.
Before 1848, two stones from the cross were found in an outbuilding of Hackness Hall, one perhaps having seen use as a gate post.
Not enough survives of the text in Anglo-Saxon runes to interpret it,[2] while a tentative translation of part of the Hahalruna again refers to Oedilburga.
Other carvings include plant scrolls, which may imitate the volutes of the Ionic order; knotwork; faces;[2] and beasts, perhaps griffons.