⁹⁰Newman, Conor. Tara: An Archaeological Survey. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy for the Discovery Programme, 1997, pp. 98-101.

George Petrie thought that the stone was the shaft of a cross. (Petrie, George. "On the History and Antiquities of Tara Hill." The Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. 18, 1839, pp. 175-6.)

Rather than an accommodation to attach the arms of a cross, Newman suggests that the segmented top of the stone "may be related to a previous use perhaps as a jamb or lintel in the earlier church."

Anthony Murphy has suggested that Cross of Adamnan may have disappeared, and has no connection to this segmented pillar stone with its Sheela-na-Gig.