The word "Coolegrean" likely derives from the Irish, and the designation "Glebe" in the townland name points to a history of church land, ground once set aside to support a local parish clergyman. That the church is now in ruins, and that its name endures in the administrative record while its details do not, gives the place a particular kind of anonymity.

Beyond its location and classification as a church ruin, very little can presently be confirmed about the structure. The townland name itself offers a thread worth following. Glebe land was a feature of the established church in Ireland, parcelled out across the country from the medieval period onward and often associated with Church of Ireland parishes following the Reformation. Whether the Coolegrean ruin predates that system, belongs to it, or sits in more complicated relationship with both Catholic and Protestant ecclesiastical history in the region is not yet clear from available sources. Mayo has no shortage of early Christian foundations, and ruined churches in the county range from pre-Norman cells to post-medieval parish buildings, so the possibilities are genuinely wide.