This ancient marker sits on low ground, just north of St. Colmcille’s holy well, creating a small but significant sacred landscape that has endured for centuries. The cross carving itself represents a Christianisation of what may have been an earlier standing stone, a practice common throughout Ireland as the new faith spread across the island.

The immediate area holds additional archaeological intrigue beyond the cross-inscribed stone. About 10 metres southeast of the holy well, historical Ordnance Survey maps from the 19th century mark a feature simply labelled ‘graves’. Investigation reveals this to be a boulder surrounded by a semi-circle of smaller stones at its base, though the exact nature and purpose of this arrangement remains uncertain. Such ambiguous features are not uncommon in Irish archaeology, where centuries of use, reuse, and weathering can obscure original functions.

This cluster of monuments; the standing stone, holy well, and mysterious grave feature; suggests the site held religious significance spanning multiple periods. St. Colmcille, also known as St. Columba, was one of Ireland’s most important early saints, and wells dedicated to him often mark places of ancient worship that predate Christianity. The proximity of these features to the shoreline may also be significant, as coastal locations frequently served as liminal spaces in Irish tradition, places where the earthly and spiritual worlds were believed to meet.