An effigial tomb is a funerary monument bearing a carved likeness of the deceased, typically a figure of some social or ecclesiastical standing. Here, the fragment has been inserted into the exterior of the wall at the southern end of its western face, which gives it an oddly informal quality, as though it were repurposed rather than placed with ceremony. It is a quietly strange thing to encounter: a piece of medieval memorial stonework embedded in a boundary wall alongside a public road.

The graveyard itself is roughly rectangular, measuring approximately 27 metres north to south and 43 metres east to west, and is associated with the parish church of St Kieran of Kells. The church sits at the centre of a remarkably dense cluster of medieval remains. Kells Priory, one of the largest and most complete walled priory complexes in Ireland, lies only about 120 metres to the north, while the medieval settlement of Kells spreads to the northwest and south. The graveyard's stone boundary wall runs north and south from the western gable of the church, and external steps on that western side provide access to the church door. The graveyard extends mainly to the north and east of the church, with a smaller portion reaching south toward the road. The accumulated layering here, parish church, priory, medieval settlement, and a fragment of a carved tomb worked into a field boundary, reflects the long and concentrated use of this particular stretch of the Kilkenny landscape across the medieval centuries.