Tullaghan

Market Cross

Local tradition maintains that this 3.21 metre tall plain cross with slightly expanded arms was discovered on the foreshore of Donegal Bay after being exposed by a storm. It is believed that the cross belonged to a monastic settlement near the seashore, although testing was done in the area no additional archeological evidence of a monastery in this vicinity was found. This cross was erected as a market cross by Major Thomas Dickson on a small hillock in Tullaghan village in 1778. Major Dickson's reputed reason for erecting the cross was to attract attention to the market in Tullaghan which was in competition with the more popular Ballyshannon market. Set in a sandstone base, the cross currently leans significantly to the west.