Senan is most closely associated with Scattery Island in the Shannon Estuary, where he founded a monastery in the sixth century that became an important centre of early Christian learning. The dedication of a modest rural chapel to him is not unusual in this part of Munster, where his cult spread widely, but the survival of such a structure as a distinct monument suggests something older or more particular than a simple field boundary or collapsed cottage wall.

Beyond the name and the location, the documentary record for this site is thin. What can be said is that Clare contains a number of early ecclesiastical sites associated with Senan, and small chapels of this kind often mark the remnants of a local pattern day tradition, a holy well circuit, or an early medieval foundation that was later reduced to rubble and memory. The word "chapel" in an Irish archaeological context can cover a range of structures, from a roofless medieval oratory to a post-medieval Mass house used during the Penal era, when Catholic worship was conducted in informal or concealed settings. Without further detail it is difficult to place this particular structure in time, but the association with Senan alone points toward an origin with roots at least in the early medieval period.