Cross-inscribed stone, Doire Leathan, Co. Donegal
In the countryside of County Donegal lies Garrynakilla burial ground, a modest yet intriguing archaeological site that offers a glimpse into Ireland's ancient past.
Cross-inscribed stone, Doire Leathan, Co. Donegal
This oval-shaped cemetery measures roughly 21.7 by 17.3 metres and is enclosed by a stone wall with an entrance gap facing east-northeast. Though the interior has been flattened and ploughed over the years, disturbing whatever original features may have existed, the site still holds significance as a place where generations of locals were once laid to rest.
Local folklore speaks of a cross-inscribed stone that once stood in the north-northwest section of the graveyard, though this artefact has long since vanished. What remains in its place is a large natural erratic boulder, a glacially deposited rock that serves as the only notable feature in this part of the cemetery. Whether the missing cross stone was removed, destroyed, or perhaps never existed quite as described in local memory remains unknown.
The site was documented as part of the Archaeological Survey of County Donegal, a comprehensive catalogue compiled in 1983 that recorded field antiquities spanning from the Mesolithic period through to the 17th century. Like many rural Irish burial grounds, Garrynakilla represents the kind of modest archaeological site that, whilst lacking grand monuments or elaborate structures, nonetheless forms an important piece of the historical landscape, marking where communities once gathered to honour their dead and maintain connections to their ancestors.





