When archaeologists carried out an assessment at St. Peter's Church in 2002 ahead of a proposed expansion, they uncovered traces of three human burials that had been lying quietly beneath the soil, apparently unrecognised as part of an earlier and distinct phase of activity on the site.

The finds associated with those burials offered a glimpse into early medieval Ireland. Fragments of souterrain ware, a type of coarse, hand-built pottery typically produced between the seventh and twelfth centuries and often found in underground stone-lined passages built for storage or refuge, were recovered alongside a flint end scraper, a small worked-stone tool whose presence hints at even earlier activity (Murphy, 2004). When further works were carried out in 2004, the picture grew more interesting still. Excavators identified a curvilinear ditch, stone-lined along one edge, curving around the burial area in a manner consistent with early ecclesiastical enclosures of the early medieval period. A bullaun stone was also recovered; bullauns are boulders or large stones with one or more cup-shaped depressions ground into their surface, and they appear frequently in early Christian contexts across Ireland, associated variously with grinding, ritual use, and holy wells. Together, these finds suggest that the current churchyard at St. Peter's sits within, or immediately adjacent to, a much older sacred landscape (Stevens, 2007).

St. Peter's Church, Balrothery, is accessible in the village itself, which lies just off the main road between Balbriggan and Skerries in north County Dublin. The visible archaeology is limited, as is typical following an investigative assessment rather than full open excavation, but the churchyard rewards a slow look. The curvilinear form of early ecclesiastical enclosures can sometimes still be traced in the shape of a boundary wall or a lane that curves in an unexpectedly organic way around a site. Visitors with an interest in early medieval remains might look for any irregularities in the ground or boundary lines that hint at the older enclosure beneath.