Located on prime land that slopes gently towards Lough Foyle to the east, the monastery is traditionally believed to have been founded by St. Patrick himself. In 2014, the Bernician Studies Group conducted a magnetometer survey of the fields surrounding the churches and graveyard, which revealed the outline of the ecclesiastical enclosure belonging to this Early Christian monastery.

A clean-up scheme in 2010 led to some fascinating discoveries within the graveyard, including several previously unrecorded cross-slabs that had been hidden from view. Among these finds, the Bernician Studies Group identified a particularly intriguing freestanding rough L-shaped slab standing 0.4 metres high with a thickness of 0.07 metres. This stone slab, whose exact date remains uncertain, appears to be an unfinished ringed-cross that was likely abandoned by its stonemason before completion.

The mysterious L-shaped slab bears a striking resemblance to other stones found in the vicinity, including a partially carved ringed cross-slab and another unfinished slab nearby. These incomplete works offer a rare glimpse into the stone-carving process of early Irish monasticism, showing us not just the finished products that typically survive, but also the rejected pieces and works in progress that tell the story of the craftsmen who shaped them centuries ago.