Cooly

Early Christian site in Moville, Co. Donegal

Cooly (or Cooley) was once the principal church of the early medieval kingdom of Bretach. Originally it’s ancient name was ‘Domnach Bhile’ – ‘Mother church of the sacred tree’ – suggesting it was among the earliest Irish monasteries. A geophysical survey in the surrounding fields has shown that the graveyard, high cross and ‘skull house’, lay within a double circular precinct, like nearby sites at Clonca and Carrowmore.

The high cross that stands outside the graveyard features a hole, associated in local folklore with betrothal, and may once have held a metal boss. The skull house is an unusual structure which housed skulls of the deceased. Links with the important Columban foundation on Iona, Scotland (134km by sea) are reflected in a rich collection of inscribed ring-headed crosses, some of them modelled on wooden originals.

The ruined walls of two churches stand among ordered rows of stone-lined and capped graves of unknown date numbering more than 800. Later graves carrying inscriptions belong to members of important local families.

Skull House Cooley, Inishowen, Donegal

Skull house at night, Cooley, Inishowen, Donegal

This site is protected under the National Monuments Act, 1930, Section 12 Part III and maintained by Donegal County Council. Photographs: Denise Henry, Illustrations: Brendan Farren, Map of Graveyard: Bernician Studies Group. Content: Lands of Éogain 2019.