Oriented north to south, this ancient standing stone bears a cross carved into its surface, complete with small circles at each terminal and at the centre; a Christian symbol etched onto what was likely a much older pagan monument. The stone’s position on low ground near the water’s edge places it within a small but significant cluster of archaeological features that have drawn the attention of historians and archaeologists for generations.

Just to the south of the standing stone lies St. Colmcille’s holy well, one of many wells across Ireland dedicated to the saint who founded the monastery on Iona and helped spread Christianity throughout Scotland in the 6th century. The well, catalogued by scholar Ó Muirgheasa as number 100 in his survey, would have been an important site for local pilgrimage and healing rituals. Ten metres southeast of the well, early Ordnance Survey maps from the 19th century mark an intriguing feature simply labelled ‘graves’, which appears to consist of a boulder surrounded by a semi-circular arrangement of smaller stones at its base.

The exact nature and age of these features remain somewhat mysterious, though they clearly represent different periods of spiritual significance at this coastal location. The standing stone may date back thousands of years to the Bronze Age, later Christianised with the addition of the cross, whilst the holy well and possible burial site speak to the area’s continued sacred importance through the medieval period and beyond. This collection of monuments was documented in the comprehensive Archaeological Survey of County Donegal, compiled by Brian Lacey and his team in 1983, which catalogued field antiquities from the Mesolithic period through to the 17th century.