What is recorded here

Beneath the north-east window of the Kilmacrenan friary church, a stone once bore the impression of a foot where Ó Domhnaill stood during his inauguration. A violent hater of everything Irish later broke it up, erasing the marker but failing to erase the memory of the chief's ascent.

Not included in the 'Archaeological Survey of County Donegal' (1983) or the SMR (1987). John O'Donovan, writing in 1835, quoted a folk tradition about a footprint stone associated with Cill Mhic Nenáin, near Kilmacrenan village. He was told by a local story-teller, Manus O'Donnell, that as a boy he had seen a stone beneath the north-east window of the friary church decorated with the 'impression of a foot and other ornaments'. He believed that it was upon this stone that Ó Domhnaill, chief of Tir Conaill, had stood during his inauguration ceremony. According to the same source the stone was apparently broken up, some time later, in a malicious act by a 'Mr. Mac Swine, who having changed his religion, became a violent hater of everything Irish.' (OSL, 53). See E. FitzPatrick, Royal Inauguration in Gaelic Ireland, c. 1100-1600. A Cultural Landscape Study. 2004, Boydell Press, Woodbridge, pp. 18, 111-2, 185-193.

Likely dating to the early Christian period, the stone may have been used for ritual or inauguration purposes, associated with the local monastic or territorial traditions. The footprint motif suggests a connection to local saints or legendary figures, reflecting both Christian and prehistoric elements in its folklore.

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