The site consists of a sub-rectangular graveyard containing various ancient features, with the outline of the original ecclesiastical enclosure revealed through magnetometer surveys conducted by the Bernician Studies Group in 2014. These investigations, carried out in the fields surrounding the churches and graveyard, successfully traced the boundaries of what would have been the Early Christian monastery’s full extent.

A clean-up programme in 2010 led to the unexpected discovery of several previously unrecorded cross-slabs within the graveyard, adding to our understanding of the site’s religious significance. Among the monuments identified by the Bernician Studies Group is a rough, T-shaped freestanding cross standing just 35 centimetres tall. This peculiar stone may represent an unfinished ringed cross-slab, perhaps abandoned by its maker partway through the carving process; its form bears a striking resemblance to a nearby partially carved ringed cross-slab found at the same site.

The combination of archaeological survey work and chance discoveries during maintenance has helped piece together a clearer picture of Cooly’s importance as an early ecclesiastical centre. The variety of stone monuments, from finished cross-slabs to potentially discarded works in progress, suggests this was once a thriving religious community where skilled stonemasons practised their craft alongside the daily rhythms of monastic life.