Church, Cluain Tsalach, Co. Donegal

Church, Cluain Tsalach, Co. Donegal

The ruins of Mevagh Church stand within a modern graveyard on high ground overlooking Mulroy Bay in County Donegal, their weathered stones telling a story that stretches back to medieval times.

Church, Cluain Tsalach, Co. Donegal

What remains of this ancient parish church, already described as ‘ruinated’ in 1622, consists of rubble walls with pinnings that once enclosed a rectangular space measuring 13.15 metres by 5.5 metres internally. The surviving eastern gable, southern wall, and fragments of the western gable reveal construction details that suggest medieval origins, including deeply splayed windows built from small horizontally laid stones and the remnants of a wooden lintelled doorway with a relieving arch above.

The church’s eastern wall preserves fascinating architectural evidence of alterations over time. A central window, though missing its head and most of its rear arch, shows signs of being a later addition, possibly replacing an earlier pair of smaller windows. Part of one original window survives just south of the central opening, its head intact enough to reveal it stood only 87 centimetres high; significantly smaller than its replacement. The southern wall bears scorch marks from an ancient fire, with spalled masonry on its inner face testament to the intense heat that once ravaged this sacred space.



The graveyard surrounding the church contains several intriguing early features that enhance the site’s historical significance. A 2.5 metre tall cross carved from a single stone slab stands south of the church, its design featuring hollowed angles where the shaft meets the arms, each emphasised by small knob like projections. Nearby, a standing stone rises 75 centimetres from the ground, which once reportedly supported the small ‘wishing stone of Mevagh’, now sadly lost. Perhaps most remarkable is an irregularly shaped stone near the church’s southwest corner, its upper surface bearing twenty three distinct cup marks, each about 6 centimetres in diameter and 1.5 centimetres deep; these mysterious prehistoric markings hint at the site’s significance long before Christianity arrived in Ireland.

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Cluain Tsalach, Co. Donegal
55.21061173, -7.81054877
55.21061173,-7.81054877
Cluain Tsalach 
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