What is recorded here

Assaroe Abbey Burial Ground holds the ivy-covered remains of a Cistercian church founded in 1178, its south wall still standing nine metres high beside a modern boundary built in the 19th century. The graveyard wall swallowed three capitals and a piece of tracery rescued from the ruins, turning lost church ornament into a permanent fence for the dead. What is gone is not trivial; it is buried beneath grass, memory and the weight of stones that men kept returning to arrange.

Assaroe Abbey (DG107-044001-): This Cistercian monastery, a daughter house of Boyle, was founded in 1178. It was plundered in 1398 by Niall Óg O'Neill and was suppressed in the later 16th century (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 127). The only identifiable remains are those of the church and comprise the ivy-covered section of the S wall and W gable with its N return; c. 9m high. Built of rubble and split stone with sandstone dressings, only the NW ashlar quoin with chamfered arris is in situ. The S wall which acts as the graveyard (DG107-0044002-) boundary is 15.8m in length to the interior return of the W gable, represented by a few protruding bond stones. Sheds have been built against the exterior face of the wall. It is joined to the surviving N section of the W gable by a modern graveyard wall. The N splayed ingoing for a window survives in the upper section of this gable. Some .7m of attached N wall remains giving an internal church width of 8.39m. Many moulded fragments (DG107-044003-) of late 12th/early 13th century date are scattered throughout the cemetery and others including three capitals and one cusped piece of tracery were built into the graveyard wall when it was constructed in the 19th century at the instigation of Dr. D. MacGettigan, Catholic Bishop of Raphoe, 1861-70 (Moran ed. I, 1873, 176). The above description was derived from the 'Archaeological Survey of County Donegal. A description of the field antiquities of the County from the Mesolithic Period to the 17th century.' Compiled by: Brian Lacey with Eamon Cody, Claire Cotter, Judy Cuppage, Noel Dunne, Vincent Hurley, Celie O'Rahilly, Paul Walsh and Seán Ó Nualláin (Lifford: Donegal County Council, 1983). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated. Date of upload: 22 September 2008

Cistercian monastic burial ground, medieval period (12th–16th century). Significance lies in its association with Assaroe Abbey, a daughter house of Boyle, reflecting monastic life and burial practices in medieval Ireland.

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