The burial ground associated with this place carries that same deep antiquity in its bones, occupying ground that has been considered sacred for well over a millennium. Ancient ecclesiastical sites on the Aran Islands tend to compress time in an unusual way; the landscape is so spare, the limestone so unyielding, that the layers of use and memory sit closer to the surface than almost anywhere else in Ireland.

Saint Enda is traditionally credited with establishing a monastic community on Inis Mór sometime in the late fifth or early sixth century, making it one of the earliest such foundations in Ireland. The place drew scholars and penitents from across the Christian world, and its reputation was formidable enough that figures like Ciarán of Clonmacnoise are said to have spent time there before going on to found their own communities. Cill Éinne, the church of Enda, became the focal point of this activity, and burial in its ground was considered a considerable spiritual privilege. The tradition of interment here persisted long after the monastic era ended, as happened with many early Christian enclosures across Ireland, where a sense of consecrated ground kept communities returning to the same spot across the generations. The name itself, cill being the Irish word for a church or monastic cell, is one of the most common ecclesiastical place-name elements in Ireland, but few carry the weight of association that this one does.