Saint Daria and Moygownagh Old Graveyard

St. Daria is a seventh century local saint, reputed to have had her monastery at what is now the old graveyard of Moygownagh. However, ritual practice connected with her derives from pre-Christian worship, as her story has all the attributes of Christian appropriation. Daria - derives from Dar í, or daughter of the Yew Tree in 'Celtic' languages. As a pre-Christian, Gaelic Goddess, Daria was found in triplicate form (similar to St. Bridget who was said to have had two sisters) and said to have also had the name Sodhelbh (the 'beautiful'), and associated with the 'Cailleach'. The latter now meaning 'old hag' formerly had a much more powerful connotation and is found in the uplands to the west of the parish in Croc na Callaigh (hill of the hag), Callaighadoo (Black Hags) and Srahnacally (The flood plain of the Hag).

Daria was the Mother Goddess tasked with the special protection of cattle - a powerful symbol of fertility in Gaelic Ireland. The adoption of her own veneration into the Christian religion, included the Christianising of her place of ritual which became a Christian monastery. Little is known of this establishment which was extinct by the end of the twelfth century want little is known indicates St Daria held a powerful place in the Christian Gaelic pantheon of saints. 'Cáin Darí' was a church promulgated rule adopted by several kings throughout Ireland to protect cattle from harm in battle, while her monastery owed an extensive tract of land comprising of half the original civil parish of Moygownagh. Indeed, Daria's associated with cattle is clearly indicated in the origination of the name of the parish. While Magh Gamhnach or the plain of the Milch Cows is said to derive from St Cormac's blessing of Daria's lands, this is a latter patriarchal appropriation of what must have associated with the local mother goddess of cattle.

St Daria's church survived for many centuries as the parish church of Moygownagh, but was in ruins by the early 19th century. The surrounding graveyard includes generations of unmarked Catholic graves and also those of the local protestant gentry - in particular of the Orme landlords whose houses were nearby. The Orme's built their own section for family internments in the oldest part of the site, underneath planted beech trees. A bullaun stone set at the 'doorway' to their plot originally would have stood in the early Christian site and is likely connected with smithing based on similar finds thought Ireland.