Round towers, those slender free-standing stone cylinders built predominantly between the ninth and twelfth centuries, were typically used as bell towers and places of refuge, and their presence at a site usually signals something older and more significant beneath the grass than the surviving masonry alone would suggest.

The site takes its character from St Cuanna, to whom an early monastic cell here was dedicated. That foundation later passed into the hands of the Fratres Cruciferi, a medieval religious order of canons based at Castledermot in County Kildare. What stands today is the shell of a medieval parish church, oriented roughly northeast to southwest and measuring approximately 19.5 metres in length. It is poorly preserved: only the northern end of the northwest wall, part of the southwest gable, and a short section of the southeast wall retain anything close to their full height. A later wall was built along the line of the northeast gable, reusing the stumps of the original side-walls. Despite all of this, a few details survive to reward close attention. The original doorway, now neatly blocked, sits at the south end of the southeast wall. A single flat-headed window opening remains in the northwest wall. A small wall-cupboard, the kind used in liturgical contexts to store vessels or relics, is still visible in the southeast wall. Scattered through the surrounding graveyard are cut-stone fragments, including what may be a triangular window head and sections of late medieval arched openings, suggesting the church was once more elaborately finished than its current state implies.

The graveyard is still in use, which means the site is generally accessible. The stone fragments lying among the graves repay a slow walk around the perimeter, and the proximity of the round tower to the church gives a clear sense of how layered the occupation of this small rise has been across many centuries.