[2] The high cross lay undiscovered until 1835, when two sections of it were unearthed whilst works were being carried out in the graveyard of the ruined abbey.

Sixty years later, in 1893, the middle section was found and added to the cross revealing its true height.

[6] The carving is famous for its flat geometrical style, in which human bodies are rendered in simple squares or rectangles.

Three panels are devoted to 'deliverance' scenes and another depicts a miracle of Christ, a "wonderfully simplified" version of the feeding of the five thousand, with the subject reduced to five circles (for loaves), two fishes and two non-biblical eels.

[8] At Moone, the subjects are composed in a direct and recognisable way, compared to other high crosses (such as at Clonmacnoise) where there is far less certainty about the scenes being depicted.