What is recorded here

Clear water still moves beside the stones where Patrick is said to have planted faith. Inside the graveyard two church remains and a tomb shrine wait beneath grass, while a plain ringed cross stands guard at the entrance. A faded cross marked on a nearby slab suggests people kept marking the place long after the first builders left it behind.

The early ecclesiastical site here consists of a sub-rectangular shaped graveyard inside of which are a number of earlier features. The site is located on excellent land sloping to Lough Foyle to the E and is traditionally claimed to have been founded by St. Patrick (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 399; Lacy et. al. 1983, 261). To the W outside the entrance to the graveyard (DG021-008001-) is a tall, plain, ringed high-cross (DG021-008005-). Inside the graveyard are the remains of two churches (DG021-008002/003-) and a mortuary house or tomb shrine (DG021-008004-). One of the churches served as a medieval parish church (Leslie 1937, 265). Poorly preserved traces of a possible incised cross on an upright slab in Cooly graveyard (DG021-008001-) located a few metres N of stone sculpture of possible monks head (DG021-008014-). Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 25 February 2015

Probably dating to the early Christian period (5th–9th century), the cross-inscribed stone in Cooly likely served a liturgical or commemorative function within a local monastic or ecclesiastical settlement. Such stones often marked sacred spaces, burials, or carried Christian symbols associated with early Irish monastic tradition.

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.