The cross originally stood at Ballyman (about NNW of the present site), and is believed to have been carved in the late 12th century.
According to the English writer Anne Plumptre (1760-1818), who stayed with the Walker family at St. Valery in 1814-15, the cross was brought from a glen to Fassaroe, and stood originally in the center of a little paddock, round which runs the plantation.