Among its weathered headstones stand three penitential cairns, rough heaps of stones that have accumulated over centuries of pilgrimage. The northernmost cairn, measuring 2.3 metres across and standing 1.2 metres high, sits just southeast of an ancient altar. This circular mound of small to medium stones forms part of a traditional devotional circuit known locally as a ‘pattern’ or ‘turas’.

The religious practice associated with these cairns follows a specific ritual path that begins at a nearby holy well. Pilgrims undertake a walking circuit through the graveyard, pausing at each of the three cairns to circle them clockwise whilst adding a small stone to the heap; a simple act of devotion that has gradually built these monuments over generations. The other two cairns lie approximately eight metres to the south-southwest of the first, creating a deliberate sacred geography within the cemetery grounds.

This tradition of penitential stations represents a distinctly Irish form of religious observance, where natural features and human-made monuments combine to create a landscape of prayer. The practice of adding stones to cairns during pilgrimage is found at holy sites across Ireland, serving as both an act of penance and a physical marker of countless individual acts of faith. Each stone added to these cairns at Disert connects modern pilgrims to an unbroken chain of devotion stretching back through the centuries.