The site’s most prominent feature is an oval mound constructed from earth and stone, rising just over a metre high and stretching 18.4 metres from north to south and 13.7 metres east to west. This carefully shaped earthwork, marked on Ordnance Survey maps from the 19th century, represents the kind of burial ground that once dotted the Irish countryside, serving small communities for generations.

What makes this particular site especially noteworthy is the simple cross-slab positioned just north of the mound’s centre. This weathered stone slab, measuring 69 centimetres wide and 42 centimetres high, bears a modest incised cross; 20 centimetres long and 14 centimetres wide. The cross’s unpretentious design suggests it may date from the early Christian period, when such markers were common throughout Ireland, serving both as grave markers and as symbols of faith in rural communities. The slab’s thickness varies between 9 and 12 centimetres, indicating it was likely quarried locally and shaped by hand.

The burial ground’s location in good pasture land along the river suggests it served a farming community, positioned where the living could easily visit their dead whilst tending to their daily agricultural work. Sites like Killeen Burial Ground offer valuable glimpses into how ordinary people in medieval and early modern Ireland commemorated their dead, creating sacred spaces that remained in use for centuries. Today, it stands as a quiet reminder of the countless small communities that once thrived along Donegal’s rivers and streams.