The site measures roughly 80 metres north to south and 90 metres east to west, and within its boundaries once stood a church, a cathedral, a stone cross, and a holy well. That combination alone signals something beyond an ordinary parish burial ground. Emly was one of the earliest and most significant ecclesiastical centres in Munster, and the accumulation of sacred features within this single enclosure reflects a long history of religious activity compressed into one elevated plot.

The graveyard contains many fine examples of 18th and 19th-century headstones, the kind of carved stonework that became increasingly elaborate as funerary fashions shifted across those two centuries, moving from simple inscribed slabs towards more ornate commemorative tablets with decorative borders, cherubs, and detailed lettering. The presence of a cathedral within the enclosure points to Emly's former status as a diocesan seat; the Diocese of Emly was one of the oldest in Ireland before it was eventually merged with Cashel. A holy well on the same ground would have added a layer of pre-Christian or early Christian devotional use, as such wells, often associated with a local saint, were sites of pattern days and seasonal ritual well into the modern period.