That gap itself is telling. Burial grounds of this kind in rural Cork range from early medieval enclosures, often circular in shape and sometimes associated with a long-vanished church or oratory, to post-medieval killeens, small unconsecrated plots used for the burial of unbaptised infants. Without further detail, Ardnamanagh's ground could belong to either tradition, or to something older still.

Ardnamanagh is a townland on the southern arm of the Mizen Head peninsula, a stretch of coastline where the landscape is as much Atlantic rock and bog as it is farmland. Burial grounds in such areas frequently predate the formal parish system, marking the spots where early Christian communities, or even pre-Christian ones, chose to inter their dead. The choice of location was rarely arbitrary. Elevated ground, proximity to fresh water, or association with a local saint's name all played a role in where a community would place its dead across centuries of continuous use.