Local tradition holds that St. Patrick himself founded this religious settlement, and whilst such claims are common across Ireland, the site’s antiquity is beyond doubt. Just outside the western entrance to the graveyard stands a tall, plain ringed high cross, its simple form marking the sacred boundary between the secular and spiritual worlds.

Within the graveyard walls, visitors can explore the remains of two churches and a mortuary house or tomb shrine. One of these churches continued to serve the local parish throughout the medieval period, maintaining centuries of continuous worship at this spot. Near the western gable of the mortuary house sits a small basin stone, known locally as a bullaun stone; these mysterious hollowed stones are found at many Irish ecclesiastical sites and may have been used for grinding grain, holding holy water, or other ritual purposes. A small cross-inscribed stone can be found to the northwest, another testament to the site’s long Christian heritage.

The Cooley Cross Heritage Committee has carefully documented the locations of these features, including the bullaun stones that dot the graveyard. Their detailed plan reveals at least two of these enigmatic basin stones, with one positioned inside the graveyard itself and another near the mortuary house. These archaeological treasures, first systematically recorded in the 1983 Archaeological Survey of County Donegal, offer a tangible connection to Ireland’s early Christian past and the communities who worshipped here for over a millennium.