This active cemetery, recently extended yet still serving the local community, marks the site of an early ecclesiastical settlement that may date back to the 7th century. The graveyard contains the ruins of an old church alongside a holy well, both testament to the site’s long sacred significance in County Donegal.

The most striking feature at Conwal is a rectangular stone cairn that was created around 1968 when the site underwent tidying. Originally a grassy mound running perpendicular to the church’s south wall, it was transformed into a carefully constructed cairn with a flat top paved with historic grave slabs. This unusual monument now serves as a repository for the site’s remarkable collection of early Christian stone carvings. Among these are six upright slabs featuring cruciform designs, one depicting a human figure, and three plain stones, whilst five additional cross slabs lie unfixed on the cairn’s surface.

One particularly noteworthy piece is a broken slab measuring 0.8m by 0.57m, which preserves the remains of a wheeled cross with distinctive hollow angles. The cross’s shaft features a central recessed panel, and below its base, a projection of equal width gradually fades towards the bottom of the stone. Alongside this piece, the cairn holds twelve other grave slabs; eleven are plain and uninscribed, some trapezoidal in shape, whilst one dates to the late 19th century. Together, these stones offer a tangible connection to the generations of worship and burial that have taken place at this peaceful spot overlooking the Swilly valley.