It features a key pattern which forms an enclosed saltire cross; this sits above the figure of a naked man bending at the knees and stands on a snake-like creature which rears up to his left.

[5] The rest of the pillar is covered in elegant carvings; Celtic knots, chequered patterns, fretworks, wreathing and foliage are found on all sides in high relief and of remarkable workmanship, although as of 2003 the figurative images are "now barely discernible".

Pennant wrote that the name Maen Achwyfan was "in all probability, from the penances which were often finished before such sacred pillars, attended with weeping and the usual marks of contrition".

[8] The first reference to the cross in English texts is by the antiquarian Edward Lhuyd, who provided a description of notable Welsh antiquities for Edmund Gibson's 1695 edition of William Camden's Britannia.

Lhuyd notes the contemporary excavations of these barrows which revealed many bodies bearing the marks of injuries inflicted by weapons of war.

[9] Elias Owen also argued that Maen Achwyfan's most likely origins were in the pre-Viking age, suggesting the eighth century as the most likely date.

Owen noted the etymology, the archaeology of religious sites in the area and the similarities in its design with crosses in Ireland, Russia and Greece.