The piece consists of two lateral arms and the centre of a type A10 free-arm cross with wide curved arm-pits and very shallow square-headed arms.

A (broad) : The outer perimeter edge-moulding is narrow and rolled. Within it a narrow moulding has extensions at right angles springing from the curve of the arm-pit to form a saltire in the centre, which was concealed by a lost boss, 4 inches (10 cm) in diameter. The boss is hacked away. The inner moulding, in the lower left corner, is seen crossing the neck of the cross. The inner strand forms four panels around the boss. The lowest of these is filled by a form of loose triquetra with loose ends to the strand, which is humped. The upper loop is symmetrical but the lower ones are angular. Around the upper loop are traces of gesso and a fleck of red pigment. In the panel of the upper limb, a large semicircular area filling the base of the panel is all that survives. The two lateral arms each have a profile bird facing the boss. The tails are wedge-shaped with incised chevrons to indicate feathers. Each has a talon touching the edge of the boss. The bodies are puffed and rounded; the wings folded to a point. The heads dip their beaks, one of them to touch its breast. The tail, wing-tip, head and claw all touch the edge of the panel. The ground is cut back with a punch, the tool employed for all the cutting.

B (narrow) : The outer edge moulding is rolled. On the arm-tip is a rectangular panel contained by a thin inner moulding which might have been cabled. The top and bottom of the panel is formed by the inner moulding, which is set 1 inch (2.5 cm) from the edge of the arm. The panel contains two motifs: at the bottom a twin-link (closed circuit pattern B), 2 inches square, and above it a pair of simple twists linked by a common split transverse strand. Substantial portions of gesso remain on this panel.

C (broad) : The edge moulding is double: rolled on the outside and modelled on the inside. The inner moulding is extended across the neck of the cross. In the centre was a domed boss, now defaced, 4 inches (10 cm) in diameter, surrounded by a broad flat strap forming Stafford knots (simple pattern E) in each arm. The U-bends in the lower limb are squashed. The upper limb is lost. The cutting is done with a punch throughout. The motifs and features of this face are worked on a 4-inch module.

D (narrow) : As face B, but in the upper part of the panel the twists are replaced by a second twin-link, now damaged. Between the two is a bungled zig-zag border. In the arm-pit is a trace of gesso and red pigment. There are also traces of black in some punch-holes.

E (top) : Damaged.

F (bottom) : The double edge mouldings prevail through both arm-pits.

There is much that is distinctive in this piece. It is planned in 4-inch modules with a 1-inch unit of measure; the complete width of the cross-head was 16 inches (four modules). The cutting, whilst accomplished with a punch, is careful and orderly. The very shallow squared ends to the arms are a feature of some Anglo-Scandinavian crosses in the North Riding, and the use of twists and twin-links indicates the same milieu. The twist patterns, however, are unique to this monument, that with the split strand suggesting a tenth-century date. The paired birds of face A have a parallel in a cross-head from Ripon (Collingwood 1915, 234–5, fig. g) where they occupy an identical position in relation to the boss. Collingwood, and later Bailey (1996a, 80, fig. 38) suggested that the Ripon birds were meant for symbolic peacocks. The Catterick birds are more hawk-like and can be compared with the bird on the hogback Sockburn 15 (Cramp 1984, 141, pl. 138, 741), though their position has an analogue in the Isle of Man on the cross-slab Maughold 98 (72) (Kermode 1907, 143–4, pl. XXVIII). Other Manx monuments display confronted birds above the cross-arms (ibid., 58, fig. 37, 1–4), as indeed does a much earlier memorial in this region, Wensley 8 (Ill. 883). It is likely that the Ripon cross-head is a copy of the Catterick cross. The survival of gesso and pigment is rare in this part of Yorkshire.