The boundary wall follows a notably curved, quadrantal outline, and it is precisely this roundness that has drawn the attention of researchers. Straight-sided enclosures are common enough across Ireland, but a roughly circular or arc-shaped boundary is often the surviving trace of something far older than the graveyard it now encloses.

Early Christian ecclesiastical enclosures, which typically surrounded a church, ancillary buildings, and burial ground within a roughly circular or oval boundary, were a defining feature of early medieval religious life in Ireland, flourishing roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries. Over time, many of these sites were absorbed into later parish use, the original enclosure gradually obscured or rebuilt, with only the curve of a field boundary or a graveyard wall hinting at what once stood there. At Temple Patrick, the quadrantal form of the existing boundary wall has been identified as potentially indicating just such an enclosure, a suggestion advanced by Leo Swan in his 1988 survey of early ecclesiastical sites. The place name itself adds weight to the idea; "Temple" derives from the Irish "teampall", meaning church, and Patrick is among the most common dedications attached to early Christian foundations across the island.