Donaghcavey Church Ruin & Graveyard
Locally it is believed that Saint Patrick
himself founded this church.
It was the first Christian Church at
Donaghcavey. Doncavey in Irish is
Domhnach a chabha and this means ‘the church of
the hollow’. This is something you may
find surprising however as this site no longer lies in a
hollow. This may be due to centuries of burials
and church constructions that have built up extra height over
time. The Church Ruin now commands a view over
the surrounding countryside due to its additional height and its
great position. A cruciform church is marked on a 1609 map on this
site. The remains the eastern wall of the old church that stood
here in 1622, which was then roofed is all that remains today.
On the right hand side of the lane going up to
the church stands the broken remains of a medieval stone Celtic
cross. Known locally as the Saint Patrick Cross
this is a common sight at many burial grounds church sites.
Unfortunately only a short part of the decorative crossshaft
survives. This Cross was alleged to have been erected by Saint
Patrick himself when the church was built however it was probably
erected in his memory much later.
There was a water-filled socket on the top of
the cross and people with eye trouble anoint their eyes with the
accumulated water for healing. It was said that
if you dropped a pin or other metal object in there all your
troubles vanish. The cache is about 2 metres from where I took the
co-ordinates, as it was the only place I got get good coverage. The
clue will make the location fairly obvious.
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