Standing stone, Cluain Tsalach, Co. Donegal
Co. Donegal |
Stone Monuments
The ruins of Mevagh Church stand within a modern graveyard on high ground overlooking Mulroy Bay in County Donegal.
Already described as 'the ancient parish church now ruinated' when documented in 1622, this medieval structure survives as fragmentary walls built from rubble with pinnings. The remains, measuring 13.15m by 5.5m internally, consist of the eastern gable with an attached northern return, the southern wall, and a small section of the western gable. The interior lies strewn with collapsed masonry and graveyard debris, whilst fire damage has left its mark on the inner face of the southern wall, where the stone has spalled from intense heat.
The church's medieval character reveals itself through its distinctive architectural features. The eastern gable, reaching about 5m at its highest point, contains a central deeply splayed window constructed from small horizontally laid stones; though its head and rear arch have long since fallen away. Just south of this opening, traces of an earlier, smaller window survive, likely one of a matching pair that once flanked the eastern wall before the larger central window was inserted. The southern wall preserves evidence of another deeply splayed window at its eastern end, alongside the remains of a doorway that once had a wooden lintel, now marked only by bond holes and a relieving arch above splayed ingoings where the jambs have collapsed.
The graveyard itself contains several intriguing early features that hint at the site's long sacred history. A 2.5m tall cross carved from a single stone slab stands south of the church, its design emphasised by hollowed angles where the shaft meets the arms, each corner marked by a small knob projection. Nearby stands a 75cm tall standing stone, which once reportedly supported the small 'wishing stone of Mevagh', now missing. Most remarkably, an irregularly shaped stone measuring 1.55m by 0.57m lies near the church's southwest corner, its upper surface bearing twenty-three distinct cup marks, each about 6cm in diameter and 1.5cm deep; these prehistoric markings suggest the site held ritual significance long before the medieval church was built.