Local tradition holds that St. Patrick himself founded this sacred place, though its earliest features likely date from the early medieval period. The site centres on a sub-rectangular graveyard, marked at its western entrance by a tall, unadorned high cross with a distinctive ring connecting its arms to the shaft.

Within the graveyard walls stand the ruins of two churches and what appears to be a mortuary house or tomb shrine. One of these churches served the local community as a parish church throughout the medieval period and beyond. On the south side of this building, a small stone cross measuring 0.73m by 0.6m bears weathered lettering on its eastern face that has become impossible to decipher over the centuries. This modest marker, positioned against the southern boundary wall, likely dates from after 1700 and would have marked an individual grave rather than serving any broader ecclesiastical function.

The site represents a remarkable continuity of religious use spanning well over a millennium, from its early Christian origins through its medieval parish role to its continued function as a burial ground in more recent centuries. Archaeological surveys conducted in the 1980s by the Cooley Cross Heritage Committee have documented these various elements, creating detailed plans that show how different periods of construction and use have left their mark on this hillside overlooking the lough.