What is recorded here

Gortnakilla Grave Yard holds several hundred plain headstones in the north end of Dooghta Valley, a small rectangular place where an old earthen bank still brushes the south edge before modern walls take over. The stones sit close together in the southern half, crowded as if the valley itself leaned in to listen. Death was ordinary there, repeated until it became a shape the land could hold.

At N end of Dooghta Valley, N of the Dooghta River. Indicated on 1st ed. of OS 6-inch map as a small enclosed rectangular graveyard (c. 30m by c. 15m). The original enclosing element, a low earthen bank revetted by stone, survives only from SW to S: elsewhere it is now bounded by modern field walls. The graves are concentrated in S part of the interior where several hundred plain headstones are visible. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. I - West Galway'. Compiled by Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1993). Date of upload: 05 August 2010

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