The gallows cross, which dates back to 1599, is not only by far the oldest wayside cross in the Dreis district, but also the only one for which no sacral, but rather a sovereign background must be assumed.
At the original location of the Dreis high court at the so-called gallows bridge, below the tennis courts, it once stood as an external sign of the high jurisdiction that the abbot of the Echternach monastery exercised in Dreis.
Here it witnessed some historically documented executions, but also a feud lasting about two hundred years between Echternach on the one hand and the self-confident and rebellious citizens of Dreis on the other, who several times moved the gallows to set it up again at another place. In this way they documented their own claim to exercise high jurisdiction, which they did temporarily.
It was not until 1683 that the dispute was finally decided in favor of Echternach by the Imperial Chamber Court.