It is not unusual for old stonework to find a second life in Irish graveyards, but the specific reuse of functional architectural drainage pieces as memorials for the dead gives this elevated County Dublin site a distinctive, layered quality that rewards a closer look.

The graveyard is large, roughly rectangular, measuring approximately 73 metres north to south and 65 metres east to west, and enclosed by a wall built after 1700. A church constructed in 1888 occupies the south-west quadrant, and it is thought to stand on or near the site of the medieval parish church of Garristown, a connection noted by both Lewis in 1837 and Walsh in 1888. The oldest graveslabs are concentrated in the southern portion of the site, with inscribed examples spanning the 17th century through to the present day. In 1990, a fragment of what may be a 15th-century effigial tomb was uncovered here; an effigial tomb is one carved with a sculpted representation of the deceased, typically a sign of some social or ecclesiastical standing. That fragment is now held in Garristown library rather than left exposed to the elements on site.

The graveyard sits on elevated ground within the village and remains in active use, with a modern extension added to the west. There are two entrance gates, one at the centre of the north wall and another in the south-east corner, as well as stone stiles at the north-east and south-east corners. Visitors interested in the medieval material should head to the southern end, where the older slabs are gathered, and look carefully along the paths and plot edges for the repurposed chutes, which can be easy to pass without recognising them for what they once were.