This active burial ground, recently extended but still very much in use, sits on what archaeologists believe to be an early ecclesiastical settlement dating back to the 7th century. The site encompasses not just the graveyard itself, but also the ruins of an ancient church and a holy well, marking it as a place of continuous spiritual significance for over a millennium.

The graveyard underwent a transformation around 1968 when the site was tidied up and reorganised. A grassy rectangular mound that stood perpendicular to the church’s south wall was converted into a stone cairn with a flat, paved top decorated with grave slabs. This cairn now serves as a display area for the site’s remarkable collection of early Christian stone monuments. Among these are six upright slabs bearing cruciform designs, one featuring a human figure, and three plain, uninscribed stones. The cairn also incorporates three recumbent cross slabs set into its structure, five loose cross slabs resting on top, and twelve other grave slabs; eleven of these are plain and uninscribed, some trapezoidal in shape, whilst one dates from the late 19th century.

One particularly notable piece is a thin slab measuring 52cm by 47cm and just 5cm thick, set into the cairn itself. Its upper face bears an incised equal-armed cross with arms that expand slightly in the Maltese fashion, though a fault or crack now cuts through two of the arms. These stone monuments, combined with the site’s long history of religious use and its commanding position above the River Swilly on good agricultural land, make Conwal Graveyard a remarkable window into Ireland’s early Christian heritage, where ancient craftsmanship and devotion remain visible in the landscape today.