Clonca Church & Cross is one of the most important and popular historical sites in Inishowen. The 17th century church ruin at Clonca is believed to have been built on the foundation of an earlier church associated with a monastic site founded by St Morialagh in the 6th century. The monastery was one of the most important foundations in the development of Christianity on Inishowen. It's proximity to Carrowmore and another monastic site founded by St Boudan in Culdaff made this area a great seat of skill and learning. Only two high crosses remain - an upright tall cross and the head of another cross lying prostrate with a large base next to it.
Standing inside the church are two carved grave slabs. Although the stone on the left, see below, is quite modern in comparison to the early grave slab, it is never the less, a very interesting slab. An inscription in Lombardic lettering reads ' magnvsma corristin iaeotkiseo' translated as MAGNUS MACORRISTIN OF THE ISLES... MacGorristan is believed to have been a scotsman and there are several stories as to how this grave slab ended up at Clonca in Donegal. The beautifully carved slab bears a shinty stick and ball. Shinty is a game, very similar to hurling, played in Scotland.
References:Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey. It was founded in about 1113 by Guillaume de Tancarville on the site of an earlier establishment of secular canons and settled by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Evroul. The abbey church made of Caumont stone was erected from 1113 to 1140. The Norman builders aimed to have very well-lit naves and they did this by means of tall, large windows, initially made possible by a wooden ceiling, which prevented uplift, although this was replaced by a Gothic vault in the 13th century. The chapter room was built after the abbey church and dates from the last quarter of the 12th century.
The arrival of the Maurist monks in 1659, after the disasters of the Wars of Religion, helped to get the abbey back on a firmer spiritual, architectural and economic footing. They erected a large monastic building one wing of which fitted tightly around the chapter house (which was otherwise left as it was).