Its shape alone is a clue: semi-circular, which is a form long associated with early ecclesiastical enclosures in Ireland, where the curving boundary of a graveyard often preserves the footprint of a much earlier monastic or parish foundation long after any building has vanished. The memorials here date from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, ordinary enough for rural Westmeath, but the ground they occupy appears to have been set apart for considerably longer.

Larkin's map of 1808 already marks a ruin on this spot, suggesting that by the early nineteenth century there was a recognisable structure here, though one already in decline. A field inspection carried out in October 1980 found the graveyard enclosed on the south-west, north, and north-north-east by the remains of a low earthen bank sitting on a natural or artificial scarp, with a shallow external fosse, a ditch, running along its outer edge. This combination of bank and fosse is a classic feature of early ecclesiastical enclosures across Ireland. From the north-north-east around to the south, a stone wall completes the boundary, with a road running beyond it. Inside, a scatter of stones in the northern part of the interior hinted at some earlier structure, but by 1980 no definite wall footings or building traces remained visible at the surface. The surrounding tillage field showed no earthworks either, so whatever once stood here has left only the curve of the enclosure and a few displaced stones to mark its presence.