The name Finlough itself derives from the Irish, likely referencing a white or clear lake, and such placenames in Clare frequently mark early Christian or pre-Norman ecclesiastical foundations, where a modest oratory or nave, often roofless and reduced to low stone walls, once served a small rural community.

Church sites of this type in County Clare range from early medieval foundations, some dating to the sixth or seventh century, through to later medieval parish churches that fell into disuse following the upheavals of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Without further detail on this particular site, it is difficult to say more about its date, dedication, or architectural character, though the pattern across the region is consistent enough: a simple rectangular structure, sometimes with a later addition, set within a roughly oval graveyard that preserves the curvilinear boundary typical of early Christian enclosures in Ireland.