Archaeological evidence suggests this site has been sacred ground since at least the early 17th century, when an earlier parish church and graveyard occupied this spot. The oldest surviving gravestone dates to around 1620, offering tangible proof of the community that worshipped here four centuries ago.

The 1654 Civil Survey of Donegal provides a fascinating glimpse into Letterkenny’s past, describing it as a market town with Friday trading and two annual fairs. The survey mentions ‘a fair Church’ alongside other notable features including a large stone dwelling house with a defensive bawn featuring four flankers, and a bridge crossing the River Swilly at the town’s edge. This brief description captures Letterkenny at a pivotal moment in Irish history, just after the Cromwellian conquest had reshaped the country’s social and religious landscape.

Today, visitors can still see two weathered graveslabs positioned about twelve metres south of the current church building. One bears an armorial plaque, though centuries of Irish weather have worn away its inscription, leaving only tantalising hints of the person it once commemorated. A similar slab nearby appears to date from the same 17th century period. Local tradition holds that one of the graveyard’s oldest burials belongs to Henry Wray, who died in August 1652; a poignant reminder that real people lived through those turbulent times, though his memorial stone has yet to be definitively identified among the weathered markers.