This ancient route, stretching approximately 1.1 kilometres from the village towards Saint John’s Point, appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey 6-inch map from the 19th century, where a surveyor’s handwritten annotation simply marks it as an ‘old road’. Even then, it was already a relic of the past, its original purpose and age lost to memory.

The road runs northeast to southwest, creating a direct link between Dunkineely’s western edge and Saint John’s Point, and along its length stand several intriguing archaeological monuments that hint at its antiquity. At the southwestern end, a pair of standing stones rises from the earth, their weathered surfaces bearing witness to countless centuries. Nearby sits a cashel, one of those distinctive Irish stone ring forts that dot the countryside. At the opposite end of the road, towards the northeast, lies a substantial enclosure, its earthen banks still visible despite the passage of time.

Whilst the exact age of this roadway remains a mystery, the monuments along its route suggest it may have been an important thoroughfare long before modern memory. The presence of these prehistoric and early medieval sites indicates this wasn’t merely a farm track but potentially a significant route connecting communities, perhaps even serving ceremonial or trading purposes. Today, though largely forgotten and overgrown in places, this old road offers a tangible connection to Donegal’s distant past, preserved in earth and stone rather than written records.