The only remnant of what was once known as ‘Kilmurry’, this unassuming pile of stones sits on cultivated farmland that slopes down towards the river, near the dramatic coastal cliffs. The site appears on early Ordnance Survey maps from the 19th century, where it’s simply marked as ‘Kilmurry’, though today there’s little to suggest its historical significance beyond local memory and tradition.

The cairn itself is a product of agricultural field clearing, a common practice where stones removed from fields were piled together to make the land more suitable for farming. However, the persistent local belief that it covers burial sites hints at a deeper history. The prefix ‘Kil’ in the original place name typically denotes an early Christian church site in Irish toponymy, suggesting this location may have once held religious significance, possibly including an associated burial ground.

Archaeological surveys conducted in the 1970s and documented by Brian Lacey and his team noted this site as part of Donegal’s rich archaeological landscape, which spans from the Mesolithic period through to the 17th century. Whilst the visible remains are modest, the combination of cartographic evidence, place name analysis, and oral tradition suggests that beneath this ordinary looking cairn may lie traces of a much older sacred landscape; one that connected the early Christian communities of Donegal to both their dead and their dramatic coastal environment.