In Atlantic Canada, coastlines are dominantly paraglacial, meaning that their geomorphology and morphodynamics are largely governed by the presence of glacigenic deposits from successive glaciations. Recent detailed mapping of uniquely preserved drowned (overstepped) barrier beach deposits in Chedabucto Bay, Nova Scotia has revealed not only the ubiquity of these features but also that barrier overstep may play a more dominant role in shoreline retreat than once thought. Many studies investigating barrier retreat through overstepping primarily focus on sandy systems while coarse-clastic systems remain understudied. Here, we investigate coarse-clastic paraglacial barrier systems by comparing the geophysical characteristics of modern barrier features surveyed through ground penetrating radar and LiDAR, with those now drowned offshore, imaged by multibeam bathymetry and seismic reflection data. We aim to investigate the environmental conditions that have led to their formation and preservation and to understand the differences observed in modern systems. Our mapping in Chedabucto Bay has revealed 62 individual relict paraglacial barriers, with glacio-isostatic relative sea-level models suggesting systems formed between ~9,500 and ~5,500 yrs BP in a similar coastal configuration to that observed today . From this catalogue of barrier features there is a greater prevalence of drift-aligned relict barriers, which we attribute to a sedimentological preservation bias from longshore transport dynamics along northern coast of the bay. From these findings we suggest that barrier overstepping plays an extremely important role in coastal dynamics for coarse-clastic paraglacial systems and must be considered by those who attempt to model long term stability of these systems.