What is recorded here

Clear water still touches the east edge where Patrick is said to have planted the first chapel. Inside the grave yard two broken churches and a small tomb shrine wait beneath grass, while a tall ringed cross stands guard at the western entrance. In 2010 a forgotten cross-slab reappeared near the north wall, its ring and projecting arms emerging from soil that had kept the shape for centuries.

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). A fragment of a broken cross-slab (DG021-008008-) with a ringed-cross the arms of which project beyond the ring was found to the N of the S Church (DG021-008002-) lying close to the N wall of the graveyard. This cross-slab appears to have been discovered during a graveyard clean-up scheme carried out in 2010. A graveyard plan drawn by the Cooley Cross Heritage Committee shows location of cross-slab as number 14. The attached image (DG021-008008-_03.jpg) is a plan of the church and graveyard commissioned by the Cooley Cross Heritage Committee showing location of cross-slab number 14 inside graveyard. The above description was derived from the 'Archaeological Survey of County Donegal. A description of the field antiquities of the County from the Mesolithic Period to the 17th century.' Compiled by: Brian Lacey with Eamon Cody, Claire Cotter, Judy Cuppage, Noel Dunne, Vincent Hurley, Celie O'Rahilly, Paul Walsh and Seán Ó Nualláin (Lifford: Donegal County Council, 1983). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 24 February 2015

Probably dating to the early Christian period (5th–9th century AD), the cross-slab likely served a commemorative or liturgical function within a monastic or ecclesiastical setting. Such stones often carried Christian iconography and may have been associated with burial practices or territorial markers.

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