That gap itself is telling. Wayside and standing crosses of this kind appear throughout the Irish countryside in considerable variety, ranging from early medieval carved slabs to later boundary or penitential markers, and the absence of detailed documentation does not diminish the likelihood that this one carries a history worth knowing.

Clonkeenkerrill, whose name derives from the Irish Cluain Caoin Coirill, suggesting a pleasant meadow associated with a figure named Coirill, sits in a part of Galway with deep layers of early Christian and medieval activity. Crosses in such townlands frequently served several overlapping purposes: marking parish boundaries, indicating the route of a funeral procession, or designating a place of roadside prayer. Some were erected over much older sacred sites, absorbing earlier ritual significance into a Christian framework. Without more specific detail available for this particular monument, it is difficult to say which of these functions it originally served, or when it was raised, but its classification as an archaeological monument confirms it has been recognised as something older and more deliberate than a casual field marker.