Grave Yard

Grave Yard, Haroldstown, County Carlow: a rare perfectly square graveyard, about 37 metres north to south and 36 metres east to west, enclosed by a five-course granite dry-stone wall with rounded corners. Inside, slightly north of centre, the foundation outline of a simple east-west church remains, and south-east of it stands a cross-inscribed pillar of the kind found in old ecclesial enclosures. The ground rises above its surroundings, a quiet accumulation of generations of burial, while 20th-century headstones, some topped with pseudo-Celtic crosses, mark continued use into living memory, the latest identified burial dating to 2002.