But the rectangular enclosure at Donaghmore, measuring roughly 52 metres east to west and 48 metres north to south, sits on a gentle south-east-facing slope above the River Slaney, and the regularity of its boundaries suggests something older was here long before the Georgian-era building that now occupies the site.

The place-name itself offers a clue. Donaghmore derives from the Irish Domhnach Mór, meaning great church, a class of name typically associated with early Christian foundations, often dating to the fifth or sixth century. The graveyard is thought to be connected to the former borough of Donaghmore, a settlement whose significance has faded considerably over the centuries. Whether or not excavation would confirm the presence of an early church beneath the current footprint, the suspicion is well-founded: early ecclesiastical sites in Ireland frequently feature enclosed burial grounds of roughly this shape and scale, sometimes preserving traces of timber or stone structures that predate the Norman period by several hundred years. The church standing here today was erected in 1711, a date that places it in the era of post-Williamite reconstruction, when many Church of Ireland parishes were rebuilding or establishing permanent structures across the country.