The second edition OS 6-inch map shows both the church site and a burial ground positioned just to the south-southeast, but time and the elements have erased any visible evidence of these structures from the landscape. What might have once been a focal point for the local community has now returned entirely to nature, leaving only the cartographic record as proof of its existence.

The site’s religious significance extends beyond the vanished church and graveyard. A short distance to the south-southeast, St. Shanaghan’s well still marks the sacred nature of this area. Holy wells like this one were often associated with early Christian sites in Ireland, serving as places of pilgrimage and prayer long after their companion churches fell into ruin. The well’s survival, whilst the more substantial structures have disappeared, speaks to the enduring importance of these natural springs in Irish folk tradition.

This archaeological site, catalogued as DG073-029001 through DG073-029003 in the official survey, represents a common pattern across rural Ireland where medieval churches and their associated burial grounds have vanished from the physical landscape whilst remaining preserved in historical memory and old maps. The Archaeological Survey of County Donegal, compiled in 1983, relied on these Ordnance Survey maps alongside field surveys to document sites like Shanaghan, creating a record of places that might otherwise be completely forgotten.