An early Christian site with the remains of a single-cell medieval parish church with a barrel-vaulted W end. The W gable and western part of the S wall survive to full height, while N and E walls are reduced to the footings. The surviving parts of the church appear wholly later medieval in date, but incorporate material from an earlier 12thc structure. The base and head of a ringed cross are found on the site.

A number of pieces of carved Romanesque stone are scattered around the site and incorporated into the fabric of the 15thc elements of the church.

The monastery here was reputedly founded by St Barrind sometime before 591 (Gwynn and Hadcock, 1970, 382). Little is known of the history of the site, although a church was obviously built or extended here during the 12thc. This structure was apparently completely demolished in the 15thc and replaced by a long narrow parish church with a vaulted priests’ residence at the W end. In 1801 Coote recorded the presence of a ‘very fine arch of curious workmanship’ at the church which was ‘rapidly falling into ruin, as at every funeral in the adjacent burial ground it [was] plundered for a headstone’. Fitzpatrick and O’Brien’s suggestion that this refers to a 12thc doorway, still standing in the SW corner in 1801, is unlikely given the apparent reuse of 12thc stone as rubble in the church fabric. Coote’s reference was probably to the relatively ornate 15thc doorway, pieces of which are scattered across the site.

Although only three fragments have so far been identified at the site, their presence is of great interest. The chevron is of a type unique to Ireland. Lateral centrifugal chevron with a cogwheel edge, although very common in England and Normandy occurs in Ireland only at Kilmalkedar (Kerry) and Cashel. In both cases clearly ‘grammatical’ moulding forms are used as is the usual practice. However, the chevron of the Drumcullen piece is formed from flat bands, carved on a flat matrix to give a planar effect. This carving technique, together with the incorporation of a beast head with curling jaws, is reminiscent of the manner in which interlace designs were carved, and seems to demonstrate the adaptation of the imported chevron motif to a more native style.