This early ecclesiastical settlement, still an active burial ground following recent extensions, contains a remarkable collection of medieval stone monuments alongside the ruins of an ancient church. The graveyard underwent significant tidying in 1968, when a grassy rectangular mound perpendicular to the church’s south wall was transformed into a distinctive stone cairn with a flat, paved top adorned with historic grave slabs.

The cairn serves as an open-air repository for the site’s most intriguing artefacts: a collection of carved stone slabs that speak to centuries of Christian worship and commemoration. Six upright slabs bear cruciform designs, whilst another displays a carved human figure, and three stand uninscribed. Five cross slabs rest unfixed atop the cairn, with three more recumbent cross slabs built into its structure. Among these is a particularly notable fragment, measuring just 33cm by 30cm, which preserves the upper portion of a simple Greek cross carved within a circle. Twelve additional grave slabs complete the assemblage on the cairn; eleven are plain and uninscribed, some trapezoidal in plan, whilst one dates to the late 19th century.

Beyond the cairn and church ruins, the graveyard contains a holy well, recorded in Ó Muirgheasa’s catalogue as number 78, further evidence of the site’s enduring sacred significance. The location itself, set in good agricultural land above the river valley, would have been an ideal spot for an early Christian community, combining spiritual isolation with practical access to water and fertile soil. This continuity of use from the early medieval period through to the present day makes Conwal Graveyard a particularly valuable window into Ireland’s long Christian heritage.