The name An Cloigeann translates from Irish as "the skull" or "the rounded head", a topographical term applied across Ireland to hills or headlands with a distinctive domed profile. That a ruined chapel should occupy such a place is not unusual in Mayo, where early ecclesiastical sites frequently occupy elevated or liminal ground, set apart from settlement yet close enough to serve it.

Beyond its location and classification as a roofless ruin, the documentary record for this particular chapel is presently sparse, and the specifics of its foundation, dedication, and period of use remain unconfirmed in publicly available sources. Rural chapels of this kind in Connacht range from early medieval oratories associated with local saints to post-medieval mass houses, simple rectangular structures built during the centuries when Catholic worship operated under legal restriction. Without confirmed dates or named associations, it is difficult to place this example precisely within that range, though the ruins themselves, however fragmentary, represent a tangible trace of religious life in a part of Ireland where such traces are easily overlooked.